Bastogne: Men of the 101st Division
When you encounter anyone who thinks that owning an AR-15 (or any other high-velocity semi-automatic weapon) can defeat the army of a tyrant, remember this:
On the afternoon of Tuesday, December 19, 1944, the 140 paratroopers of I Company, 501st Parachute Regiment, took up defensive positions in the small hamlet of Wardin, Belgium. They were ordered to stop or slow the advance of the German Panzer Lehr division. These were not ordinary soldiers: they were the best America had to offer at the time; veterans of Normandy, highly skilled and trained, and with a bravery that had been proven many, many times over. These were men of the 101st Division, of Band of Brothers fame.
They went into that battle to hold Wardin with their semi-automatic rifles and their company machine guns and their unmatched esprit de corps—but what they didn’t have was tanks, or artillery, or effective anti-tank guns. The Germans did, though. The battle was short and brutal. In a couple of hours of house-to-house fighting, I Company lost 57 men killed or captured, the Germans took Wardin, and the survivors struggled to make it back to Bastogne alive.
Now, the 101st held Bastogne against the Germans, because they had tanks, and artillery, and effective anti-tank weapons, in addition to their paratroopers with semi-automatic rifles. Without that support, Bastogne would have been lost as quickly as Wardin.
But we don’t allow civilians to own tanks, or artillery, or effective anti-tank weapons. Why? Because with a tank, some crazy guy could plow into a concert, killing 56 people and wounding over 500 others. Because with artillery, someone could drop a 155mm round on a crowded nightclub building, killing 58 people. Because with an effective anti-tank weapon, someone could fire a missile at school bus going to the zoo, killing 26 elementary school kids and their teachers, or at a high school bus carrying a wrestling team, killing 17 kids and coaches.
It’s time that we put all semi-automatic weapons in the same category as tanks, artillery, and anti-tank/anti-aircraft missiles. Make them illegal; buy them back at present market value, and pay for it with the savings in health care and incarceration.
And if some jerk tells you that he needs his weapon to defeat tyrants, ask him why he thinks he and his little group of dweebs are better than one of the finest group of fighting men the world has ever seen—ask him what he would have done differently at Wardin.
