Navy pilot instructors ask to arm themselves after Pensacola base shooting- but Navy brass says no

Navy instructor pilots reportedly asked permission to carry weapons in the aftermath of the shooting at Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida, where a Saudi military pilot killed three American sailors and wounded eight others.

However, Navy bosses rejected the request, according to reports.

‘It’s so stupid that on a military base, the shooter was allowed to roam free for so long,’ one instructor pilot, told Fox News. ‘In a gunfight, that’s an eternity.’

The pilot, and others interviewed by Fox News, spoke anonymously. 

Cars get stopped at the entrance gate for the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida. A gunman opened fire December 6 on the base, killing three serviceman

DailyMail.com reached out to the Navy about the request to change policy. 

Another pilot told the cable network, ‘I have zero confidence the guy I show my ID card to at the gate could save me.’

An unnamed pilot said they don’t want to be a situation where they must rely on others for safety. 

‘We don’t want to count on cops or gate guards to save us in a crisis.’

Two pilots said the shooter had 10 minutes to carry out his deadly assault on defenseless Navy sailors at the aviation pre-flight indoctrination building, which also houses The Naval Aviation Safety school, the New York Post said. 

The crime scene outside a hospital December 6 after a deadly shooting at the NAS in Pensacola, Florida. The mother of one of the victim's said, 'My baby was standing watch and he lost his life because he wasn't armed'

The crime scene outside a hospital December 6 after a deadly shooting at the NAS in Pensacola, Florida. The mother of one of the victim’s said, ‘My baby was standing watch and he lost his life because he wasn’t armed’  

Saudi Arabia Defense Attache Major General Fawaz Al Fawaz and his Embassy staff and other officials arrive to meet with the Saudi students who remain restricted to the Naval Air Station in Pensacola on December 9, days after a Saudi national allegedly opened fire at the base, killing three people

Saudi Arabia Defense Attache Major General Fawaz Al Fawaz and his Embassy staff and other officials arrive to meet with the Saudi students who remain restricted to the Naval Air Station in Pensacola on December 9, days after a Saudi national allegedly opened fire at the base, killing three people

Investigators said Saudi airman Mohammed Alshamrani launched a shooting spree with a Glock 45 handgun that was purchased from a licensed dealer although the suspect is not a U.S. citizen or resident.

The suspect obtained a Florida hunting license that qualified him for one of the exceptions to the federal law that prohibits foreign nationals from purchasing firearms in this country, USA Today reported. 

‘We trust 18-year-old privates in combat with grenades, anti-tank missiles, rifles and machine guns, but we let service members get slaughtered because we don’t trust anyone to be armed back here in the United States,’ a senior U.S. Army officer told Fox News. 

‘Why are we cowering in our offices, it’s insane,’ the officer added. 

‘We need to protect not just the pilots, but our aircraft that are worth millions,’ a pilot said. 

Mohammed Alshamrani was a Saudi student who opened fire inside a classroom at Naval Air Station Pensacola, before one of the deputies killed him

Mohammed Alshamrani was a Saudi student who opened fire inside a classroom at Naval Air Station Pensacola, before one of the deputies killed him 

The entrance to the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida, where an active shooter December 6 led to three dead members of the Navy

The entrance to the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida, where an active shooter December 6 led to three dead members of the Navy

The family of one of the three servicemen killed at Pensacola, Ensign Joshua Kaleb Watson, 23, of Coffee, Alabama, made the case to lawmakers and military officers for allowing service members to protect themselves on base on an appearance Tuesday on ‘Fox and Friends.’ 

‘He was well qualified to have a firearm and defend himself. If we are going to ask these young men and women to stand watch for our country, they need the opportunity to defend themselves,’ Adam Watson, Joshua’s brother, said. ‘This isn’t the first time this happened and if we don’t change something, then it won’t be the last.’

Airman Apprentice Cameron Scott Walters, 21, from Richmond Hill, Georgia and Mohammed Sameh Haitham from St. Petersburg, Florida, were the other Pensacola victims.  

More than a dozen U.S. Army soldiers and an unborn child were gunned down at Fort Hood in 2009. 

‘He was my baby. It hurts me. It doesn’t really anger me as much as it hurts me. My baby was standing watch and he lost his life because he wasn’t armed,’ Watson’s mother Sheila added.

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk