I need Ideas

[BullfrogKen]

Like hso mentioned, keep coming at this from the angle of the DWI program.


The risk of injuries and deaths from driving is a lot higher than stupid gun handling. You could point out the error by taking it to an absurd extreme.


In light of recent DWI's, would the Commander mandate no personal ownership of a vehicle unless the purchase was first approved by him? No one may purchase a vehicle unless he first went through a AAA course? And all POV's will be stored at the motorpool when not in use.


Commanders are a lot more concerned with minimizing the risk of some stupidity by those under him affecting his career than common sense and personal freedoms. The only way to ensure no one will do anything stupid in his off time is to restrict everyone to base and suspend liberty.


Does he have children? At what point does he draw the line between he and his wife being responsible for the actions of his children, and his children begin to become responsible for their actions?


I think a decent education program can be set up that includes a session about responsible gun ownership. Just because it's the military doesn't mean they know what responsible gun ownership entails. Safe gun handling skills are learned, and outside of groups of service people who will come into frequent contact with firearms, it's just not taught. There exists whole groups of young people who simply are ignorant of concepts like The Four Rules.

A decent education program, combined with a stern stance regarding stupid gun handling by the people in your unit, can eliminate a majority of these problems.

 

[GunsAmerica Fan]

If you are dealing with games like Trust I don't think an NRA course is going to cure the problem, though it would help. The problem is video games. People don't understand that guns are not something you can ever point randomly and safely, because there is going to be the one time that the gun isn't empty.

I would couple the NRA safety course with videos of combat injuries. Show them what bullets really do to people. The military has them obviously and I'm sure you could get them. Once they can picture themselves or their buddy with half of their guts hanging out or splattered behind them, they will think twice about pointing guns carelessly.

 

[oldpuppymax]

Unfortunately, morons, thugs and losers are to be found anywhere...even on military bases. Doing away with weapons will not correct stupidity or criminality. Rather it will only impact on the rights of the good people. Ft. Hood was supposed to be a very "safe" place, wasn't it! No guns, therefore no chance of being shot....or of defending oneself against a damned Islamic terrorist.

 

[Shadow 7D]

The problem isn't one that can be changed by an overbearing command, esp. if it's moral related, I had to sit through enough "safety day" power points.

First, like bulfrog said, make the "trust" game deadly to careers, push the command for an open court martial, and make the attendance mandatory for anyone in a command position starting with team leader and work up from there.

Then take a safety day to the range and take the time to explain everything that goes wrong with the "trust" game, by shooting impressive targets like watermelons, so the next private that someone points a gun at runs. You have to counter the invincibility complex, something that is hard to do, esp with line troops, it the part the lets them run into fire to push an attack. Make the safety day fun and more should pay attention.

 

[billybobjoe]

You can't outlaw stupidity. I'm sorry, I know it's a sad loss, but when you put a loaded gun to someones head and pull the trigger? How can any commander take deal with someone when the do something just off the wall nuts. Don't stick a pencil up your nose!