After the recent shootings of four marines in Tennessee, Senator Dick Black expressed a sentiment that many of us shared. It quickly went viral. [read_more] Senator Black said,
“There is something seriously wrong when we need civilians guarding our military personnel because we disarmed them.”
Senator Black is now calling on Governor McAuliffe to arm our national guard and defense forces in Virginia so they can protect themselves.
Dear Governor McAuliffe:
I urge you to immediately issue arms and ammunition to Virginia’s National Guard and to the Virginia Defense Forces. I also ask that you harden State military installations and recruiting stations against ISIS and al Qaeda sympathizers. Soldiers must be armed.
My request stems from jihadist threats and from attacks on U.S. military installations. On July 16, 2015, Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez attacked military targets in Chattanooga. The “No guns allowed” sign at the Marine Recruiting Center was a deadly invitation to jihad.
Strict rules against loaded firearms have left troops defenseless against murderous jihadists. Instead of acting like soldiers, they are told to run and hide. This is unacceptable. Since 9-11, America has been repeatedly targeted by militants. This year, I was personally designated an “enemy of ISIS” because of my outspoken defense of Christianity. If I am meant to die, I will not run and hide. I will go down fighting because that is the American way.
The Chattanooga shooting is hardly the first such attack. On September 11, 2001, jihadists killed 3,000 Americans in the Twin Towers and at the Pentagon. In 2009, Major Nidal Hasan killed 13 unarmed soldiers and wounded 30 at Fort Hood, Texas. That year, there was another attack at Little Rock, Arkansas, where an American-Muslim killed a soldier at a recruiting center.
As a combat-wounded Marine, I am appalled that our troops are defenseless against attackers. In Vietnam, we refused to be captured and fought to the death. If it weren’t for my M-14 rifle, I wouldn’t be alive to write you this letter today. Virginia’s soldiers deserve that same right.
I ask you to join governors who are arming their state’s Guardsmen. Give our troops a fighting chance.
Sincerely,
Colonel Richard H. Black (Ret.)
Senator of Virginia, 13th District
Let’s join the Senator and send a message to Governor McAuliffe asking him to arm our troops so they can protect themselves and the civilians on our military bases. It’s the least we can do to keep our troops safe!
