U.S. Marines in Inaugural Parade Ordered to Disarm-Under Investigation!

U.S. Marines in Inaugural Parade Ordered to Disarm-Under Investigation!

Summary of the eRumor:
This is a forwarded email that alleges that the group of U.S. Marines that marched in President Obama's inauguration parade had the bolts and bullets removed from their rifles.

The Truth:
We are still investigating to see if there was an actual order from the White House or the Secret Service regarding the rifles used in the parade.

We have talked to several retired members from different branches of the service who told us that it is not customary for weapons to be loaded during a parade. Under normal circumstances, the firing pins are removed from weapons unless they are taken into battle or used on the firing range.

We were able to identify three different rifles used by the U.S. Marines in this parade and have images below taken from video of the parade.

The first group had M1 Garands with bolts removed and bayonets fixed.

The two marines in the color guard are shouldering the Springfield 1903 bolt action rifle with the bolt handle clearly visible.

The third group had M-16 rifles with the ammunition magazines removed in order for the weapons to be shouldered.

Even in cases where a 21 gun salute would be conducted by military members, the weapons would be modified to fire blank rounds.

The Secret Service and local law enforcement would have had live rounds in their weapons to protect the President and dignitaries present.

Video of parade found on YouTube

updated 2/16/13

A real example of the eRumor as it has appeared on the Internet:

Dishonored and disarmed: Bolts are clearly missing from these Marine rifles during President Obama's inauguration parade. This is an unmistakable insult to the honor of the Marine Corps.

David Codrea has revealed that President Obama has so little regard for the United States Marines risking their lives under his command life that they were forced to dismantle their already empty parade rifles for his second inauguration parade. This is nothing less than a slap in the face of the Corps:

"Didn't know the Marines had to take the bolts out of their rifles for the Inaugural," an email forwarded to Gun Rights Examiner from a United States Marine Corps source observed. "Wonder if someone can explain why [they] would be marching in the inaugural parade with no bolts in their rifles!"

The email linked to a YouTube video of the 57th Presidential Inaugural Parade, embedded in this column, featuring Bravo Company Marines from the Marine Barracks Washington. Sure enough, the observation in the email is confirmed by watching the video, with screen shots provided in the photo and slide show accompanying this article.

This prompted an internet search to see if others had also noticed, and the Blur-Brain blog had.
"The bolts have been removed from the rifles rendering them unable to fire a round," the post stated. "Apparently Obama's Secret Service doesn't trust the USMC. Simply searching each guy to make sure he didn't have a live round hidden on him wasn't enough, they had to make sure the guns were inoperable.

Obama doesn't trust the very men who put their lives on the line to serve their country. I guess it shouldn't be that much of a shock. Untrustworthy people find it very difficult to believe that other men have honor.