Despite Best Anti-Gun Effort, Gun Sales Hit Record Numbers Again

≡
Anti-Gun Veteran Spreads Rhetoric,
But Facts Don’t Add Up
Posted at 6:00 pm on June 05, 2018 by Tom Knighton

 Share  Tweet

As a veteran, I’m annoyed by those who use their veteran status to

try and attack our sacred and constitutionally protected right to
keep and bear arms. Many of these claiming that their military
experience gives them perspective because they carried guns every
day turn out to be people who were in the rear with the gear much
of the time and are far from the operators they like to portray
themselves as.

Help Expose George Soros

Millions of dollars going to
Soros' friends in Europe. Help
now!

What they often do is skew their military service, not to claim

anything that’s not true, but to imply they are far more intimate with
warfare than they are.
That’s what it sure looks like in this anti-gun post by a woman
named Becky Margiotta, who penned an anti-gun screed at a site
called The Lily, which is owned by the Washington Post. Some of
the things she said just don’t add up.

After high school, I set off for West Point, where

shooting was no longer a hobby – it was a
professional skill. While at West Point, I logged
countless days on the range, learning to operate
weapons that were new to me – like the M-16 rifle –
and honing my skills. I remember learning that the
5.56 mm ammunition used in assault rifles is
intentionally designed to slow down upon impact so
that it can tumble through the victim’s organs and
inflict maximum casualties.

Now, I’m going to cut her some slack on this, because I seem to
recall being told this when I was in the military as well.

However, it’s also all bull. The ammunition wasn’t designed to do

any such thing. It’s designed to kill the enemy. End of discussion.
There are criticisms of the round that because of the spitzer bullet
design, it will yaw in soft tissue, but that’s not mitigated by the
bullet being larger necessarily. So, on point one, we have someone
who swallowed what they were given wholesale with no desire to
research it on their own.

Then they go on the internet to spout off about it.

But Margiotta continues.

Following graduation from West Point, I commanded

two Special Operations companies – small forces
structured to complete the most physically and
politically challenging missions. Multiple times a year,
year after year, we underwent recertification on the
 weapons that were most central to our mission.
Going to the range was treated with the utmost of
gravity and military discipline. There was no joking
around on the range. Every single round of
ammunition was accounted for every single time.

I left the Army after completing nine years of service.

Right around that time, the shooting at Columbine
High School happened. I was heartbroken and
horrified to hear how the weapons I had trained to use
so carefully – including weapons that don’t belong in
civilian hands – had been used in a school to end the
lives of 13 innocent children and educators.

Now, let’s keep in mind that Columbine was in 1999 and she was
out of the Army by then. Also, women weren’t allowed in ground
combat roles officially until after 2013. So what kind of “Special
Operations companies” was she in charge of? What “physically and
politically challenging missions” was she dealing with?

What we know is that she damn sure wasn’t with the Ranger
Regiment or Special Forces by any stretch of the imagination. That
wasn’t remotely possible during the time frame she describes.

Most likely possibility? She was in charge of Civil Affairs

companies. Wikipedia describes the civil affairs mission as, “Civil
Affairs soldiers are responsible for executing five core CA tasks,
Civil Information Management, Foreign Humanitarian Assistance,
Nation Assistance, Population and Resource Control, and Support
to Civil Administration. Some subtasks to these core tasks include
identifying non-governmental and international organizations
operating in the battlespace, handling refugees, civilians on the
battlefield, and determining protected targets such as schools,
churches/temples/mosques, hospitals, etc.”
Now, this is an important mission. Also, civil affairs troops in a war
zone can find themselves in some hairy situations.

But let’s not forget that Margiotta doesn’t say she was in civil
affairs. She leaves it vague. Why?

Well, my guess is that she figures people will blow off “civil affairs,”
but not “special operations.” To be fair, civil affairs are, to my
understanding, a special operations unit. They’re just not what most
people think of when they think of special operations, and I think
Margiotta is banking on that to give herself some status to try and
lend extra weight to her arguments.

Let’s not even get into the blatant bovine excrement she spreads
when she talks about Columbine. She said, “I was heartbroken and
horrified to hear how the weapons I had trained to use so carefully
– including weapons that don’t belong in civilian hands – had been
used in a school to end the lives of 13 innocent children and
educators.”
 Ad

After all, there wasn’t a single weapon used in Columbine that’s a

typical part of the United States military’s arsenal. In other words,
she’s either lying or she doesn’t know what she’s talking about.

Either way, between this and the other inconsistencies, there’s

plenty of reason to ignore her opinions out of hand. After all, if she
can’t be trusted to admit to her service being what it was, what else
can’t she be trusted with?

 Share  Tweet
BEARINGARMS NEWSLETTERS

Sign up for daily breaking news from

BearingArms

Email Address SIGN UP

 M O R E STO R I E S

How 'Improvised' And 'Craft- NC Gun Roster Being Sold As Texas Student Group Stands To
Built' Weapons Kill All Gun Preventing Faulty Weapons Oppose Parkland Kids
Control Arguments

Ad

R E L AT E D A RT I C L E S
How ‘Improvised’ And ‘Craft-Built’ Weapons Kill All
Gun Control Arguments

June 07, 2018

NC Gun Roster Being Sold As Preventing Faulty

Weapons

June 07, 2018

Texas Student Group Stands To Oppose Parkland
Kids

June 07, 2018

Delaware Assault Weapon Ban Bill Set To Fail In

Committee

June 07, 2018

Ad
Sheriff Deputy’s Interview Only Reinforces His
Mistakes

June 07, 2018

Florida Lawmaker Seeks To Create Nationwide Gun

Registry

June 07, 2018

NY Governor Blows Off Due Process With Latest
Anti-Gun Proposal

June 07, 2018

Why School Safety Commission Shouldn’t Look At

Guns

June 06, 2018

Ad
Man Who Used AK-47 To Defend Himself Won’t Face
Charges

June 06, 2018

NC Bill Seeks To Impose California-Like Gun Control

On State

June 06, 2018

David Hogg’s House Swatted While Teen Was In
Washington

June 06, 2018

Despite Best Anti-Gun Effort, Gun Sales Hit Record

Numbers Again

June 06, 2018

Ad
Anti-Gun Priest’s Body Guard Arrested For Illegal
Firearm

June 05, 2018

Reason #6831 Why Gun Registration Is Evil June 05, 2018