[Loughla]

I have a cousin who lives in Illinois and joined the Marines. He's 20 now. He can shoot fully automatic weapons in the military and has won awards for handgun precision and skill.

But he can't buy a handgun in his home state or drink a beer.

Make it make sense.

[inigyou]

Joining the military helps the government achieve its goals. Having a gun at home doesn't, and drinking doesn't. You scratch the government's back, and it'll scratch yours.

[rileymat2]

It’s my understanding, for the most part, that they do not have constant access to fire arms, that they are somewhat tightly controlled on base precisely because the army has learn widespread indiscriminate access is a safety problem despite all this training.

[laughing_man]

The army "learned" no such thing. There was never a safety problem with guns on military bases. Guns were banned by Bill Clinton as part of a broader gun control push by the Democrats.

The effect has been the opposite of increased safety. We've had a couple of unopposed mass murder incidents on US military bases since the ban went into effect, most notably by Nidal Hasan, who was able to kill 13 and wound 33 because nobody else had a weapon.