THE BEST OF INTENTIONS…

…do not always guarantee the best of results.

After the atrocious mass murder at the recruiting office in Chattanooga, some civilians who support their military have showed up conspicuously armed to perform volunteer guard duty at other recruiting centers.  Some of them are military vets.  I totally sympathize with their wish to protect the people who protect their nation.

However, it has not worked out as well as some might have hoped.  In one incident, a volunteer was “showing” his AR15 to a passerby – something not normally compatible with “guard duty” – and an unintended discharge occurred.

Here, a volunteer guard was authoritatively requested to leave.

And here, we find the military itself less than thrilled with the idea.

As one observer noted, most of us would be leery of a volunteer unknown to us who showed up on our roof fixing the shingles, let alone standing outside our house with a military rifle to guard us, uninvited.  Moreover, if strangers with visible rifles become the norm outside recruiting stations, it will allow the next jihadi to make a closer approach and not trigger alert status until he starts shooting.

What’s that saying about the road to Hell being paved with good intentions?  I appreciate Americans who care about the safety of their soldiers and Marines.  It seems, however, that political activism to get trained, armed military personnel distributed on base and in recruiting stations is going to be the best support we can offer in this vein to our service men and women.

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