Fox Nation Claims 2006 Manual Is “Obama's Blueprint For Disarming Americans”

Fox Nation highlighted a WND article that claimed a leaked Military Police training manual on civil disturbances shows that President Obama has a plan for disarming Americans during a civil emergency. But the manual is actually from 2006, and only provides guidelines for preventing firearms from falling into the hands of rioters and looters during an emergency.

A January 7 Fox Nation post highlighted an article from WorldNetDaily that accused Obama of having a “blueprint for disarming Americans.” The article linked to a leaked document outlining guidelines for Military Police on how to deal with civil disobedience. WND claimed, “Given the imminent introduction of Senator Dianne Feinstein's draconian gun control legislation, which would instantly criminalize millions of gun owners in the United States if passed, concerns that the Obama administration could launch a massive gun confiscation effort have never been greater.”

Fox Nation: Obama Blueprint For Disarming Americans

But the guidelines WND linked to were published in 2006, during George W. Bush's administration. The document outlines a course at the United States Army Military Police School. According to the Army, the purpose of the course is “to describe the nature and causes of disaffection and social unrest; define the potential for social unrest in the United States; identify the types of confrontations; define crowd behavioral and psychological influences; identify patterns of disorder.”

In addition, the course does not provide a means for the government to disarm Americans; it merely provides guidelines for how to prevent looters and rioters from stealing weapons during a civil disturbance and creating a more volatile situation:

A main consideration in the conduct of civil disturbance operations is to prevent liquor, drugs, weapons, and ammunition from falling into the hands of rioters. Therefore, liquor stores, drug stores, sporting good shops, pawn shops, and hardware stores are main targets for looters and must be kept under close observation by means of foot and motorized patrols. Normally, businesses of this type must be identified in advance and included in emergency plans. 

[...]

In addition, certain facilities and buildings have become symbolic targets to radical or extremist elements and should be identified and afforded protection with the priorities established.  Among the likely targets to be attacked are control force command posts, billeting areas, and motor parks.  Another potential problem in civil disturbance operations is the threat posed by dissident elements intent on doing bodily harm to control force personnel and civilian dignitaries in the disturbed area. When such threats exist, military personnel may have to be committed to security operations.  In particular, security must be placed on armories, arsenals, hardware, and sporting good stores, pawnshops, and gunsmith establishments, or other places where weapons or ammunition are stored.  To conserve manpower, consideration may be given to evacuating sensitive items, such as weapons from stores and storing them in a central facility.  Priorities for physical security must be established to prevent waste of available forces on less important facilities or those which have their own physical security forces.

In the article, WND acknowledged that the guidelines originated in a 2006 document, but still attempted to link the course to the Obama administration by saying the information was “made clear” in July 2012, and claiming “Similar plans were also outlined in an updated manual released in 2010.”