The NRA this week called for the re-arming of military personnel on domestic soil, citing the Thursday shooting deaths of five unarmed servicemen in Chattanooga.
"It’s outrageous that members of our Armed Services have lost their lives because the government has forced them to be disarmed in the workplace," Chris Cox, executive director of NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action, said in a media statement.
"President Obama should fully repeal Defense Department Directive 5210.56 immediately, and Congress should pursue a legislative fix to ensure that our service men and women are allowed to defend themselves on U.S. soil."
According to The Hill, the Pentagon directive — which bans personnel from carrying weapons on military installations — was instituted under the George H. W. Bush administration, and has been upheld by subsequent presidents.
The NRA and proponents of domestic rearmament contend that military bases and military recruiting centers, often located in civilian areas like shopping malls, are soft targets for terrorists.
"We have to be allowed to fight with both of our hands, and not with one behind our back," Retired Army Staff Sgt. Alonzo Lunsford, who was shot in the 2009 attack on Fort Hood,
told CNN. "So arm our military personnel. We have the training, we have the restraint to use these weapons . . . It's obvious that the war is now on our home soil."
In the wake of Thursday's attack in Chattanooga, some state officials have already moved to arm units of the National Guard. On Tuesday, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker — a presidential candidate — issued an executive order allowing National Guard members in his state to carry weapons while on duty.
"We're going to do everything we can to make sure all of our guardsmen are safe," said Florida Gov. Rick Scott this week. "We've got to understand that we have people in our country that want to harm our military."
"Arming the National Guard at these bases will not only serve as a deterrent to anyone wishing to do harm to our service men and women, but will enable them to protect those living and working on the base," said Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter has moved more slowly, asking military branches to submit ideas for increasing security at military installations.
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