Disabled Marine rifles at inauguration signal shift in administration policy (Photos)
“Didn't know the Marines had to take the bolts out of their rifles for the Inaugural,” an email forwarded to Gun Rights Examiner
from a United States Marine Corps source observed. “Wonder if someone
can explain why [they] would be marching in the inaugural parade with no
bolts in their rifles!”
The email linked to a YouTube video of the 57th Presidential Inaugural Parade, embedded in this column, featuring Bravo Company Marines from the Marine Barracks Washington. Sure enough, the observation in the email is confirmed by watching the video, with screen shots provided in the photo and slide show accompanying this article.
This prompted an internet search to see if others had also noticed, and the Blur-Brain blog had.
“The bolts have been removed from the rifles rendering them unable to fire a round,” the post stated. “Apparently Obama’s Secret Service doesn’t trust the USMC. Simply searching each guy to make sure he didn’t have a live round hidden on him wasn’t enough, they had to make sure the guns were inoperable.
Wondering if this may be an inauguration policy of long standing that transcends administrations, Gun Rights Examiner
made a cursory search and found something even more curious. In the
2009 Inaugural Parade, the United States Navy marched with rifles that
had not been so disabled (see 1:24 into that video plus the final slide).
This raises the question of why the administration felt it necessary to make this change now, particularly with concerns being raised about military involvement in domestic affairs, litmus tests on top brass willingness to fire on American citizens alleged by a heretofore prominent and credible Nobel Prize nominee, a "terrorism" policy that allows for assassinating Americans without due process, rising concerns over deployment of domestic drones, and publicized opposition among many in the USMC to presidential policies such as women in combat, as well as having been the most resistant military branch to ending “don’t ask, don’t tell.”
Add to this concerns over administration agencies buying up ammunition in massive quantities, the renewed destruction of expended military ammunition brass in contravention of the Defense Appropriations Act, and Obama’s post-election confidence in dropping the mask on his previously “under the radar” citizen disarmament plans, and the change becomes another piece that fits in a puzzle that’s forming an increasingly disturbing picture.
Unsurprisingly, a Google news feed search finds no reports on inaugural Marine disarmament in the “Authorized Journalist” media. Chances are, most of them aren’t qualified to notice such things, and that it doesn’t serve the agenda of those who are to point such things out.
UPDATE: I’d like to clear up some of the common threads appearing in comments.
My attention to this story came from an email list run by and for Marines.
The rifles are NOT being carried in bolt open position. The bolts have been removed. You can tell because the operating rods are in the forward position.
The rifles in the 2009 inaugural, as shown in the last slide show photo, did not have the bolts removed.
The issue of parade rifles carried by honor guards being disabled in a different fashion under previous administrations, such as having their firing pins removed, is not being argued here, although it should be—not that it didn't happen, but that it does. But that’s not the thrust of this article. Here’s what is:
Unlike in 2009, in the 2013 inaugural parade, someone in authority made the decision to change that and order the Marines to march with visibly disabled guns.
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If you're a regular Gun Rights Examiner reader and believe it provides news and perspectives you won't find in the mainstream media, please subscribe to this column and help spread the word by sharing links, promoting it on social media like Facebook (David Codrea) and Twitter (@dcodrea), and telling your like-minded friends about it. And for more commentary, be sure to visit "The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance."
The email linked to a YouTube video of the 57th Presidential Inaugural Parade, embedded in this column, featuring Bravo Company Marines from the Marine Barracks Washington. Sure enough, the observation in the email is confirmed by watching the video, with screen shots provided in the photo and slide show accompanying this article.
This prompted an internet search to see if others had also noticed, and the Blur-Brain blog had.
“The bolts have been removed from the rifles rendering them unable to fire a round,” the post stated. “Apparently Obama’s Secret Service doesn’t trust the USMC. Simply searching each guy to make sure he didn’t have a live round hidden on him wasn’t enough, they had to make sure the guns were inoperable.
The few, the proud, the ... untrusted?
Photo credit:
United States Marine Corps
This raises the question of why the administration felt it necessary to make this change now, particularly with concerns being raised about military involvement in domestic affairs, litmus tests on top brass willingness to fire on American citizens alleged by a heretofore prominent and credible Nobel Prize nominee, a "terrorism" policy that allows for assassinating Americans without due process, rising concerns over deployment of domestic drones, and publicized opposition among many in the USMC to presidential policies such as women in combat, as well as having been the most resistant military branch to ending “don’t ask, don’t tell.”
Add to this concerns over administration agencies buying up ammunition in massive quantities, the renewed destruction of expended military ammunition brass in contravention of the Defense Appropriations Act, and Obama’s post-election confidence in dropping the mask on his previously “under the radar” citizen disarmament plans, and the change becomes another piece that fits in a puzzle that’s forming an increasingly disturbing picture.
Unsurprisingly, a Google news feed search finds no reports on inaugural Marine disarmament in the “Authorized Journalist” media. Chances are, most of them aren’t qualified to notice such things, and that it doesn’t serve the agenda of those who are to point such things out.
UPDATE: I’d like to clear up some of the common threads appearing in comments.
My attention to this story came from an email list run by and for Marines.
The rifles are NOT being carried in bolt open position. The bolts have been removed. You can tell because the operating rods are in the forward position.
The rifles in the 2009 inaugural, as shown in the last slide show photo, did not have the bolts removed.
The issue of parade rifles carried by honor guards being disabled in a different fashion under previous administrations, such as having their firing pins removed, is not being argued here, although it should be—not that it didn't happen, but that it does. But that’s not the thrust of this article. Here’s what is:
Unlike in 2009, in the 2013 inaugural parade, someone in authority made the decision to change that and order the Marines to march with visibly disabled guns.
------------
If you're a regular Gun Rights Examiner reader and believe it provides news and perspectives you won't find in the mainstream media, please subscribe to this column and help spread the word by sharing links, promoting it on social media like Facebook (David Codrea) and Twitter (@dcodrea), and telling your like-minded friends about it. And for more commentary, be sure to visit "The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance."
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