Small Wars Journal

SWJ SNQ # 3

Sat, 07/31/2010 - 6:58pm
Here's the third edition of Small Wars Journal's Saturday Night Quote (SWJ SNQ). Kudos to Major Ronald T. Hinkle. In the commentary section of SWJ article Gun Control in Counterinsurgency MAJ Hinkle has this to say:

"Pursuing gun control of the law abiding citizen to curtail the illicit activities of insurgents in Iraq is a frustrating dilemma that have parallel arguments in even our peaceful society in the U.S. Do we take away the ability of a citizen to protect himself and his family until help can arrive, or do we allow the insurgent/criminal take advantage of the helpless law abiding citizen without this protective right?"

"I worked with the initial push to stand up the Iraqi Police Force and saw the reactive versus proactive tendencies of their culture. Literally, the Police were viewed as the report takers and body receivers of those that were killed. Even after returning a few years and continuing the mentoring of the Police Force, the fact was that the Police were responders of incidents and could do little to initially protect its citizens the critical few minutes that were needed to protect life. An armed citizen and his neighbors could save his family during the time of the crisis until help comes."