Why do we prevent Soldiers from carrying personal weapons...

[MineralMan]

11. The Military Police at Fort Hood is armed.

They work in law enforcement. Everyone else is unarmed, unless they are at the range for training. When you think about how often someone starts shooting at a military base, you'll find that it's no more frequent than what happens in most cities. I suspect that if everyone at Ft. Hood was carrying arms around all the time, more shootings would occur there.

I think you haven't served in the military, based on what you're writing about this awful incident. They're a lot like a city. When military units are not in combat, they don't have any reason to be armed, except during training exercised. In fact, you'll find far fewer armed people on a military base than in most communities. The military is quite careful about firearms. They understand firearms. That's why.

Firearms are for killing the enemy, as far as the military is concerned. If there's no battle going on in the area, they aren't needed. So, they're stored.

Merely arming people doesn't really prevent violence. Truly, it doesn't.