Marines,LEO's,soldiers of any kind

[StingyGunner]

................

[cdi]

Have a look at what happened during Katrina.

[DennisH82]

Each MARINE, Soldier and LEO would have to answer that question to themselves before they could speak for any group. Illegal orders are illegal orders. There are too many what ifs involved with that scenario. I know speaking for myself that I would not confiscate ay Citizens weapon that wasn't being used to hurt others or my Soldiers. You will always have the tin foil hat wearing paranoids that would open fire on a convoy thinking they would come for them and you will always have the Serviceman or LEO that follows orders blindly. It’s up to the leadership to do the right thing in these elements. I would hate to be the one standing in front of a formation telling armed Soldiers to do harm to citizens that were not trying to hurt them.

[pacrimescode5904]

I gotta tell you, when I was an 18 year old Marine it had been drilled into me so hard that discipline was "the instant willing obiedence to follow orders, respect for authority and self reliance SIR!"

I would have blindly followed those orders to seize the firearms of the citizenry. Thankfully I don't know if the orders ever would have been given because of the outstanding NCO's and Officers that I served with.

They say the two most dangerous things in the Marines are a Lieutenant with a compass and a private with a rifle.

The Police Academy taught me a little about that thing called the Constitution of the US (mostly the bill of rights). Rush Limbaugh on the radio sitting in a patrol car helped shape my love for the document. Actually reading the Constitution the Federalist Papers and Common Sense etc. has cemented my deep love for the way this country was set up.

Not only would I never illegally seize someone's firearm but before it was legal to carry a firearm in a state park I had issued verbal or written warnings instead of citing the 3 individuals that I had dealt with for violating the regs. Until they take away my discretion (at which time I'll hang up my badge) I will never cite someone for violating the prohibition on open carrying in the park either (as long as they cover up).

Just my .02

[Berks_Iraq_Vet]

Unlawful order. So no, I would not.

[rwilson452]

Many years ago an officer did a survey of a bunch of marines for his doctoral work. The lower ranks said they would obey orders. The middle ranking officers and senior NCOs said not only no but hell no.

[TaePo]

In the Army, we were told about lawful orders. If there were any questions about an order, we were instructed to ask. We were responsible if we followed an illegal order.

"Take care of the prisoners!" can have two meanings. One is to take them into custody and give reasonable care and treatment. The other is with a wink or the way it is said and can mean to take them out back and shoot them.

I would have respectfully declined that order. If they insisted, I would respectfully request reassignment and other duties. If they reassigned me and still carried out a confiscation, I would report it. Failing official channels, I would report it anonymously to outside sources if need be. I would be willing to testify if asked once the emergency was over.

It is quite possible that one would never have an easy time of finding jobs again especially government jobs. Whistle blowers despite protections, are not welcomed into new organizations with open arms (usually). On the other hand, if you blew the president, you can get all kinds of job offers and book / movie deals.

[ReconLdr]

Have a look at what happened during Katrina.

As a Soldier who deployed to New Orleans and Lake Charles after Katrina and Rita hit. We were told to take possession of any firearms we saw. I saw a multitude of weapons in my travels down there. Guess how many weapons we confiscated? None, zip, zilch, zero, nada....

I didn't then and would not in the future be part of any confiscation team. My Oath is to support and defend the Constitution .... according to law and regulations

I, (NAME), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the State of (STATE NAME) against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the Governor of (STATE NAME) and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to law and regulations. So help me God.

The Law and Regulations say that I do not have to follow any order that is unlawful. Violating someones rights is not what I would call a lawful order...

[nlcrsn]

Yea seems we have a good group of guys here. My concern is how many, like during Katrina would violate that oath.

[DennisH82]

The hope is that the Leaders in place will temper the drone effect in our younger Soldiers, MARINES and fellow Servicemen. As it has been noted in earlier threads it would take a bold leader to stand in front of armed Soldiers and tell them to hurt citizens because of an Illegal order. Because of this site I occasional do the "what if" scenario with fellow leaders and Soldiers and I have found few that would follow that Illegal order and some that would ask for clarification of that order. I have read a number of replies on this site and I get the feeling that if a 5 ton of Soldiers pulled up in their neighborhood during a disaster that some would open fire on them, I would hope I am wrong but that’s just my feeling. I think there would be a rather large divide in the military if push came to shove and a large number of troops would elect to take a hike making the Services unable to field any troops. We serve to protect this country and our citizens, if some talking head in DC decides to become Emperor he may find it very difficult to rule.