It’s Time To Arm The Recruiters

A couple of weeks ago, while the nation was bickering over health care, Supreme Court Nominee Sonia Sotomayor and how to treat captured terrorists, a pair of domestic acts of terror shocked us out of our collective political funk and reminded us of the dangers of domestic acts of terror committed by those acting alone.

On May 31, 2009, the infamous late-term abortion provider Dr. George Tiller was shot to death while he was ushering during Sunday Services at his church and on June 01, 2009, US Army Private William Long was murdered outside an Arkansas Army recruiting center, while a fellow soldier, Quinton Ezeagwula was wounded.

Notwithstanding that both killings were the result of a nearly identical motivation; a deadly combination of political ideology infused with religion; the stark contrast in the manner in which liberals reacted to both killings and their media coverage that followed was an absolute disgrace and another example of why the mainstream media can no longer be trusted to deliver the objective truth about anything.

When the announcement of Tiller’s death hit the airwaves, feminists, liberal politicians and pundits praised him as a stalwart champion of women’s health and a martyr for their cause, while the death of Private Long, the first US soldier to be killed on US soil in the name of Islam was completely ignored, other than a passing mention worth 20 seconds of air time.

Predictably, Barack Obama said he was “deeply saddened” by the cold-blooded killing of Private William Long, but he was “shocked and outraged” by the shooting of George Tiller, who often wore body armor, showing he knew he was a target. And while that stark contrast in reactions is outrageous to all but the death-worshippers among us, it gives us a glimpse into the depravity of the liberal mind, merely confirming that which we already knew. Although both killings were shocking, neither represents the religion in whose name these thugs acted and neither killing advanced the cause put forth by the killer as their motive.

No American deserves to be gunned down like an animal and the man who killed George Tiller did not represent the pro-life movement any more than Carlos Bledsoe represented the whole of Islam. But, I’m more alarmed that the first terrorist killing of a US solider on US soil since 9/11 was completely under-reported. America has once again latched on to the emotional aspect; the hypocrisy. But we’ve lost sight of the more important issue. Why Carlos Bledsoe wasn’t in prison on weapons charges and why he was able to carry out this heinous murder?

Bledsoe was previously arrested in Nashville, Tennessee in 2004. If prosecutors had thrown the book at him like it appears they should have, William Long might still be alive today.  In Bledsoe’s car during the 2004 stop, they found an SKS rifle with a bullet in the chamber and five rounds in the magazine, two shotguns; one sawed-off; shotgun shells, an ounce of marijuana and a switchblade knife. Bledsoe’s story at the time was the he was to sell the shotguns to his passenger who fled on foot and was later identified, but never charged.

Bledsoe was looking at both weapons and drug felonies in 2004, but was only charged with a single misdemeanor which was dismissed several months later. Why? When asked, the Police punted and would only say that they charged him appropriately. When prosecutors at the Knox county DA were asked, however, they put up an invisible wall of silence and would only say that the legal circumstances of the case prevented them from talking about it.

“This is a weird situation in which we can’t say anything and we can’t explain why,”  – John Gill, Special Counsel to Knox County DA Randy Nichols

Prosecutors in Knox County should have thrown this piece of human garbage in prison back then, like they would have any other felon. Instead, felony weapons and drug charges were dismissed and one knows why, except Bledsoe and Knox County officials. And because Bledsoe was never charged, he was free to murder William Long and was planning on killing more. The only saving grace is that Bledsoe was stopped before he could kill more. When he was stopped, he had the SKS rifle, a pistol, 500 rounds of ammunition and Molotov Cocktails.

Although he stole the life of a young Army Private just starting his career, Carlos Bledsoe is done stealing, notwithstanding his dying breath at the hands of the executioner, which can’t come soon enough.

Those charged with enforcing and upholding the law are supposed to be there to protect us. In this case, the police did their job and the bad guy was arrested and charged. We as citizens expect that when people commit felonies, they get locked up, but prosecutors simply let this trash go, perhaps so they could go after “bigger fish”. Nobody really knows and Knox County prosecutors aren’t talking, but William Long’s parent’s have lost their son and deserve some answers. Had he been killed on the battlefield, at least they’d know what happened.

Local law enforcement does a remarkable job in some very tough circumstances, every day throughout this country. They would act as first responders in any national emergency or terrorist attack, but they can’t be everywhere. Abortion providers like George Tiller even carry concealed weapons these days. There are probably a few armed airline pilots. If our military men are going to become targets in our own streets, doesn’t it make sense to have them at least armed with a service pistol?

This veteran says yes. It’s time to arm the military recruiters.


Jayme Evans is a veteran of the United States Navy, military analyst, conservative columnist and an advocate and voice for disabled and other veterans. He has served for many years as a Subject Matter Expert in systems software testing, and currently serves as a technical lead in that capacity. He has extensively studied amateur astronomy and metallurgy, as well as military and US history.