Open the Naval Aviation Museum to the Public NOW!

March 6, 2020 6:51am

Exactly, three months ago, a Royal Saudi Air Force flight student at NAS Pensacola shot eleven people, killing three. And the base has been closed to non-DOD civilians ever since, except under the very narrow circumstance of being escorted by someone with a Department of Defense ID card.

Keeping civilians away from the base's Naval Aviation Museum is unacceptable and inexcusable.

The phony claim of "security concerns" is complete nonsense. It wasn't a civilian visiting the base who murdered people. And the museum is already effectively isolated from most base operations anyway. The Navy could return to the exact same museum access as existed before the shootings with zero adverse consequences. They just don't have the courage to do it. It's easier to sit back and do nothing.

The murderer was motivated by fundamentalist Islam and anti-American hatred. He was not motivated by a desire to see historic aircraft in a museum. But many decent people who pose no danger to anyone at NAS Pensacola do want to see those historic aircraft. And they should be allowed to.

I am fully aware that the mission of the base is not tourism, and that the safety and security of our military personnel is paramount. But the absurd policy of denying public access to the Naval Aviation Museum and the Pensacola Lighthouse is the equivalent of not allowing horses into the barn because a fox got into the hen house.

Actually, it's worse than that. It is the equivalent of not allowing horses into the barn because a rooster who lived in the hen house killed a hen in the hen house.