Impeach Congress over Navy heroes' deaths
Chuck Norris
My wife, Gena, and my hearts broke (again) when we heard about the tragic act of terrorism and barbarismon the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida, in which three heroic sailors and patriots were gunned downin cold blood and eight more were injured by a rabid gunman.
The Pensacola tragedy brought us back to 2009 and our own Lone Star state's Fort Hood tragedy, in which 13 other courageous people were killed and 30 more injured at one of the U.S. Army's largest military installations.
At NAS Pensacola, "Six Saudi nationals were detained for questioning … after a Saudi gunman opened fire there,killing three people [and injuring eight others] before being shot dead by officers," a senior U.S. official told Fox News.
The Washington Postreported, "Officials said they were investigating claims, first reported by the Associated Press, that [the Saudi killer] showed videos of previous mass shootings at a dinner party he hosted in the days before the attack."
To add insult to injury, the murderous parasite was a 21-year-old second lieutenant in the Royal Saudi Air Force and one of 852 Saudi aviation studentson the base. (The base employs 16,000 military and 7,400 civilian personnel.)
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For anyone with a 20-year memory, the Washington Postwas correct that these killings are "eerie echoes of Sept. 11, 2001, when a mostly Saudi team of al-Qaida operatives received flight training in the United States and then crashed planes into the World Trade Center and Pentagon."
Each of those three brave sailors who gave their lives in service to our country – 19-year old Airman Mohammed Haitham, 23-year old Ensign Joshua Watson and 21-year old Airman Apprentice Cameron Walters – were stellar patriots with promising futures. And each of them fought for their country until their dying breaths.
FOX 10reported that the Navy praised all three flight school students for their "exceptional heroism and bravery in the face of evil."
Capt. Tim Kinsella, the commanding officer of Naval Air Station Pensacola, said in a statement, "When confronted, they didn't run from danger; they ran towards it and saved lives."
According to the Washington Post,Airman Mohammed Haitham, who graduated in 2018, recently rekindled his Christian faith and had been attending church with a classmate. Authorities told Haitham's family that he had tried to stop the shooter.
The same was true of Airman Apprentice Cameron Walters, who was assigned to watch duty in Building 633, which is where the shooting unfolded.
Joe Witt,a fellow airman apprentice and one of Walters' three roommates at NAS Pensacola, shared: "He was an amazing guy. He always had something good to say to everybody, was always smiling. Us four, we were a pack here for the last two weeks, we did everything together. He was really just a great overall guy; he always had great energy."
Ensign Joshua Watson had just graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and looked forward to a military career as a pilot. Joshua fought to his dying breath, leading first responders to the active shooter despite being shot five times.
Watson's older brother, Adam, recalled on a Facebook post: "After being shot multiple times he made it outside and told the first response team where the shooter was and those details were invaluable."
Adam concluded, "He died a hero."
Indeed, he did, Adam, as did Haithamand Walters!
Speaking of heroes, let's not forget the amazing law enforcement officers who responded to the call.
The Washington Post added: "Among the wounded were two of the sheriff's deputies who charged into the classroom building within minutes of when the shooting began. One was released from a hospital, while another is recovering after undergoing surgery, Escambia County Sheriff's Office spokesman Major Andrew Hobbs said Saturday. Deputies arrived on the scene within three to four minutes, fatally shooting the gunman, he said."
This last Friday, the Navy rightly and posthumously awarded Wings of Goldto the three heroic young sailors who perished at NAS Pensacola. Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly on Tuesday proclaimed Ensign Joshua K. Watson as a naval aviator, and Airman Mohammed S. Haitham and Airman Apprentice Cameron S. Walters as naval aircrewmen, Fox 13 Newsreported. Those men were also honored at the 120th Army-Navy football gameon Saturday, which President Trump attended as well.
All three Navy servicemen were cut down in their prime, but the aspect that makes this so painful for their family and friends is that they believe they didn't have to die. And odds are those three men wouldn't have died if they were allowed to bear arms on their own naval base, especially when they were called to guard it. And yet the Saudi foreign national was allowed to carry around his firearm? How crazy is that?
The Washington Post reported: "The FBI declined to answer questions about how the gunman obtained his weapon, described as a handgun. 'Non-immigrant aliens' admitted to the United States for a specific period of time are generally banned from transporting or possessing firearms, but there are exceptions, including for law enforcement from 'a friendly foreign government entering the United States on official law enforcement business,' according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives."
What's insanity is that gun use is tightly restricted on U.S. military bases for Americans, with officials saying that only members of "security forces" are able to bring a weapon on to the Pensacola installation.
For everyone else, here is law and protocol, according to the Military News:
According to the Integrated Defense Plan,weapons must be registered with the base armory within 24 hours of being brought onto an installation. Before that point, weapons must be properly secured and stored, and firearms unloaded. Weapons are prohibited from being stored in vehicles or on-base dormitories. [Concealed carry permits are also null and void on military bases.]
Weapons include firearms, knives with blades longer than 5 1/2 inches, self-defense agents – such as pepper spray and stun guns – martial arts weapons and various devices capable of firing projectiles – such as paintball guns, bows and arrows, BB guns, blow guns, slingshots, blank cartridge pistols, straight razors, etc.
Another amazing veteran and brilliant culture analyst, Matt Barber,asked a critical question we all must answer – particularly our U.S. representatives and senators – in his column a few years ago:
Notice a trend here? What do Sandy Hook Elementary, Aurora Colorado's Century 16 theatre, Columbine, Fort Hood No. 1 and Fort Hood No. 2 all have in common? They're all "gun-free zones."
Oh, that rather than "gun-free zone," what if each of these terror sites had a sign reading: "Staff heavily armed and trained. Any attempts to harm those herein will be met with deadly force."
Might some of those beautiful souls have yet died before one or more well-armed good guys could take out the well-armed bad guys? Perhaps. But how many precious lives could have been saved?
Tragically, within just the few years between January 2009 and September 2013, 14 mass shootings took place in public spaces that were so-called "gun-free zones." In 13 mass shootings, military officers or law enforcement were targeted, killed or injured responding to them.
Six years later, here we are again, as we are almost every year.
And who affirmed and created these gun-free zone military base laws that not only contradict our Second Amendment constitutional rights but also put our U.S. military personnel in harm's way by removing from them the very self-defense weapons that can protect them? One word: CONGRESS!
U.S. congressmen not properly protecting our own U.S. servicemen and servicewomen on our own military bases is a travesty of congressional duties and obligations. And it is right on par with absurdities of gun-free zones at public schools. Isn't it incredible we have armed guards in front of banks protecting our precious money but we can't post them in our schools and military bases, which contain our most valued and precious souls in society? Stupid!
The U.S. president, U.S. representatives and U.S. senators take the same basic oath of office to the U.S. Constitution: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. …"
If congressional liberals are so hell bent on impeaching the president based upon his alleged breaking of the Constitution, maybe they should look in the mirror. When it comes to protecting the Second Amendment and protecting our country from all enemies, foreign and domestic, they should be impeached for creating laws that absolve the Second Amendment and open its citizens – like sailors and students – to harm's way.
Heritage.orgexplains the impeachment section of the U.S. Constitution: "Article II, Section 4, says that the President, Vice President, and 'all civil Officers of the United States' – which includes judges – can be impeached. Members of Congress can be expelled by their own respective body. (See Article I, Section 5, Clause 2.)"
Article VI, clause 3,of the U.S. Constitution reads: "The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States."
How can congressional liberals uphold their Oath of Office when they deny even naval officers their Second Amendment right to bear arms, especially with the collective goal of protecting the U.S. from all enemies, foreign and domestic? Does "foreign and domestic" specifically have to spell out: military bases, too? Public schools, too?
What a sheer contradiction and abandonment of congressional duties to uphold the U.S. Constitution. Indeed, what an abuse of power and obstruction of Congress! I say it again, they should be impeached!
Gena and I absolutely join Ensign Joshua Watson's family who are calling for reform on military bases.
"Appearing on 'Fox & Friends' Tuesday with hosts Steve Doocy, Ainsley Earhardt and Brian Kilmeade, Watson's family said that their son was a marksman, and they believe the situation would have turned out differently had he been allowed to have a service weaponon the base," Fox Newsreported.
Ensign Watson's older brother, Adam, again shared: "These men and women are asked to go defend their country overseas or wherever and my brother was an expert marksman. He was captain of the Rifle Team for the Navy. He was well-qualified to have a firearm and defend himself."
He added, "And, if we're going to ask these men and women to stand watch for our country, they need the opportunity to defend themselves. This isn't the first time this [has] happened, and if we don't change something, it won't be the last. … If my brother had not had that right stripped from him, this would be a different conversation."
Gena and I love, honor and salute all of our U.S. military personnel and their families, and especially those who are apart from one another at this Christmastime. May God bless you all, and give you His Christmas peace and strength, especially those who have experienced such grave loss as at NAS Pensacola.
(For further education, I recommend all my readers read Dana Loesch's "Hands Off My Gun: Defeating the Plot to Disarm America."I'd also highly advise U.S. congressmen and congresswomen to read my 2014 column, "3 lessons our politicians should learn from Fort Hood.")