The Suicide Prevention and Response Independent Review Committee (SPRIRC) recently issued recommendations to help curb suicide numbers among U.S. service members. And much like every gun control recommendation these days from the current administration, this one calls to disarm the armed forces.
Study Calls to Disarm the Armed Forces
More troubling, the Department of Defense issued a press release, claiming it had “taken note of SPRIC’s work and will use it to enhance their current approach in three key priority areas.” Those areas claim to foster quality of life, build healthy climates and address stigmas for seeking help. But unfortunately, when one drills down into the fine print of the study, the recommendations actually point toward limiting the rights of our warfighters.
Simply stated: soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines can carry every conceivable weapon into harm’s way. But the government want to limit access to firearms back home or on base.
Limite Accesss
A section within the 115-page report carries the heading “Limiting or Reducing Access to Highly Lethal Methods of Suicide.” Translation: Limit access to firearms. Here the report begins citing data where increases in restriction allegedly contributed to reductions in suicides in different communities. It claims “policies that encourage (or require) secure firearm storage practices and slow firearm acquisition could prevent some military suicides.”
Build a Gun Registry
Next, the report recommends repealing Public Law 112-239, Section 1057. The current law, under the 2011 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) prohibits the Secretary of Defense from collecting data relating to the lawful acquisition, possession or ownership of firearms. You can’t make a list of gun owners in the military. This act calls to overturn this protection, potentially enabling unconstitutional infringement of gun rights for service members. But they clearly want to make their rolls of gun owners. “Congress should repeal this section of the law and replace it with language that allows the Secretary of Defense to collect or record information about the lawful possession, ownership, carrying, or other use of a privately owned firearm or ammunition by service members and civilian employees when such information is necessary for the purposes of injury and mortality prevention,” the report claims.
Impede Lawful Ownership Via Regulation
The SPRIRC wants service members, now get this, to have to train to carry firearms. Never mind that most soldiers or Marines possess more training than nearly every American civilian. Never mind that many actually carry a firearm into harm’s way. But now they would be burdened with additional training requirements to be able to enjoy the Constitutionally protected right they fight to defend.
If all that wasn’t enough, this study claims we need four-day waiting periods for ammunition purchased on DoD property. Firearm purchases? Those get a seven-day waiting period. To further emasculate our warfighters, it calls for a minimum age requirement of 25 years to purchase firearms and ammunition. At 18, they’ll send you to die for your county. 21 to drink booze or get high. But God forbid you want to own a gun.
Finally, we take all that info and put it into a national database for recording serial numbers of firearms purchase aboard installations. One of the absolute non-starters we fight against everyday–a national registry.
Treat the Real Problems
Many veterans struggle with depression and PTSD. And veteran suicide remains a massive problem we must strive to answer, and soon. But limiting or taking away gun ownership constitutes yet another tone deaf response. No surprise it comes under the most anti-gun administration in America’s history. You can read the entire “Preventing Suicide in the U.S. Military: Recommendations from the Suicide Prevention and Response Independent Review Committee” HERE.
There may be some really good recommendations in there. We don’t know, as we don’t know everything. But we really know guns, and they got that as wrong as you can get it. So consider yourself warned.
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