BY Herschel Smith
8 years, 3 months ago
Concerning this article, I sent the authors a short note as follows.
Gentlemen,
So here is an important question about your coverage of the happenings in Charlotte. I follow this sort of thing and have ascertained that more often than not, when the NG is deployed, they aren’t under “arming orders.” This was true of the NG deployed to the Mexican border (they mostly sat in offices and aided with paperwork as they had no ammunition given to them for their weapons), and was true of the NG deployed in Ferguson. Issuing arming orders is a big deal, involving training, requalification by the riflemen, issuing “rules for the use of force” that have been reviewed by the lawyers, etc., etc.
But they rarely listen to a blogger, so you might ask the question of the officials. You might catch them flat footed and they will likely refuse to answer you because it might show the world that deploying the NG is just window dressing and none of them have ammunition.
If you ask and they answer, I’d appreciate attribution please.
