The policy of preventing military personnel on base from carrying firearms has cost more lives, as an enlisted man undergoing mental health evaluation for PTSD opened fire at Fort Hood yesterday, killing 3 others, and wounding 16, before turning a gun on himself and making the death count 4.

I am so angry that I can barely type. Trained warriors who know how to use weapons are denied the ability to defend themselves and become sitting ducks for those who evade the no-firearms-on-base rules, whether out of terrorism motives or mental health issues. Those to whom we entrust out national defense deserve much better.

In the current Fort Hood slaughter, the gunman has been identified as Specialist Ivan Lopez, who had served as a truck driver in Iraq, a highly stressful duty owing to the danger of IEDs and other forms of attack. While authorities have not ruled out terrorism as a possible motive, Lopez was under evaluation for possible PTSD.

As at the first Fort Hood massacre and the Navy Yard incident, the policy of disarming military personnel on base has proven lethal, as the gunmen faced no immediate armed resistance from the warriors they slaughtered with impunity.  Only when armed military police arrived did the carnage cease:

Military officials said Lopez' rampage was stopped after he was confronted by a female military police officer, which lead to the suspected shooter turning the gun on himself.

In military as in civilian life, when seconds matter, the police arrive in minutes (or hours).  When the victims are trained warriors, capable of defending themselves with practiced skill, this is unacceptable.

The madness must end.