A Department of Defense directive, passed towards the end of President George HW Bush's (R) time in office over 20 years ago, limited guns on military bases to law enforcement officials only. And thanks to a law enforcement official, a Military Policewoman, the carnage at Fort Hood two days ago wasn't worse.

Lt. Gen. Mark Milley, Fort Hood’s senior officer, said that after the gunman opened fire at the base, a military policewoman confronted him in a parking lot. Milley said the gunman first put his hands up, but then reached for a gun. The female officer drew her weapon and engaged him, and the shooter then pointed his gun at his own head and pulled the trigger, he said.

“He was approaching her at about 20 feet. He put his hands up, then reached under his jacket, pulled out the (.45) and she pulled out her weapon and then she engaged, and he then he put the weapon to his head,” Milley said late Wednesday.

He called the unnamed officer’s actions “heroic.”

“It was clearly heroic, what she did at that moment in time,” Milley said. “She did her job and she did exactly what we’d expect from U.S. Army military police.”

And yes, in November, 2009 it was another woman law enforcement official, a civilian Fort Hood police officer, who first engaged Army Major Nidal Hasan in a gun fight, which prevented him from killing even more. 

Self defense knows no gender.