Sound Off: Does Anyone in the Military Community Actually Support Gun Control?

Retired Army Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling just published an opinion piece titled “The military is like the rest of America — divided on guns” on the CNN website. 

Hertling works as a national security, intelligence and terrorism analyst for CNN. He served for 37 years in the Army, including three years in combat, and retired as commanding general of US Army Europe and the 7th Army.

He goes out of his way to establish his bona fides and says he “unhesitatingly” supports the Second Amendment BUT also believes that “gun reform is not equivalent to banning guns.”

Also, prepping for the inevitable blowback, he details his own personal history with firearms and combat but insists that he’s not a weapons expert.

Without getting specific, Hertling says that some military personnel believe that military-grade weapons should not be available to the public and mentions the #vetsgunreform hashtag.

He also acknowledges that “others” believe that Americans should have unlimited access to all weapons.

All of this seems like a setup for a proposal to solve the problem of mass shootings, but Hertling ends with the observation that both the nation and the military remain “deeply divided” and that mutual respect might help.

His article begs an important question: is the military community actually divided on this issue? Is there a sizable (or even measurable) percentage of active duty or veteran men and women who support gun reform? What do you think?