Soldiers disarmed

In March 1993, under President Bill Clinton, the Army imposed regulations forbidding military personnel from carrying their personal firearms.

For the most part, only military police regularly carry firearms on base.

"Because of Mr. Clinton, terrorists would face more return fire if they attacked a Texas Wal-Mart than the gunman faced at Fort Hood, home of the heavily armed and feared 1st Cavalry Division," the Washington Times editorialized. "That's why a civilian policewoman ... was the one whose marksmanship ended Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan's rampage."

In an interview on CNN Monday night, news anchor John Roberts asked Mandy Foster -- wife of one of the soldiers shot at Fort Hood -- how she felt about her husband's coming deployment to Afghanistan. Mrs. Foster responded: "At least he's safe there and he can fire back, right?"

Mr. Clinton's deadly rules disarm even officers. "Six of the dead and wounded had commissions," the Times points out. And this despite the fact that all "the public shootings in the United States in which more than three people have been killed have occurred in places where concealed handguns have been banned."

President Obama claims there will be a thorough search to figure out how the Fort Hood massacre came to occur, and how a repetition can be prevented.

If he means it, he could and should start by admitting this murderous assault was motivated by the culprit's first loyalty being to his radical religion. Then he must repeal the Clinton gun ban, re-arming American military personnel on domestic military installations for their own defense. Now.