Senate Republican will roll out bill to arm troops at military facilities

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) will introduce legislation allowing troops to carry guns on military facilities, in the wake of a shooting in Tennessee that left four Marines dead. 

 

Johnson’s office said the Wisconsin Republican, who chairs the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, will offer a proposal that would get rid of regulatory hurdles prohibiting troops from carrying firearms on military installations. 

 

{mosads}The legislation comes in the wake of a shooting Thursday in which 24-year-old Kuwaiti immigrant Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez killed four Marines, including one from Johnson’s home state, at two separate military facilities in Chattanooga, Tenn., before being killed himself.

 

Johnson said his legislation would “better protect our military personnel.”

 

“By disarming the Armed Forces, gun-free policies at military facilities have made our men and women in uniform easy targets for terrorist attacks,” he added. “Yesterday’s shootings in Chattanooga that claimed the lives of four brave Marines, including Sgt. Carson Holmquist from Grantsburg, Wisconsin, follow similar deadly attacks at Washington, D.C.’s Navy Yard and Fort Hood, Texas.”

 

Johnson’s decision to introduce legislation follows a number of lawmakers calling for troops to be allowed to carry guns on military facilities in the wake of the shooting. 

 

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) said Friday that an annual defense policy bill would “end the disconnect between the threats our warfighters face and their families face and the tools they have to defend themselves.” 

 

The two lawmakers said they had been working on including the provision in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) prior to Thursday’s shooting. 

 

Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) is planning to introduce a bill that would allow military recruiters to carry weapons. 

 

Meanwhile, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno said Friday that the Army will look into how it can better tighten security at recruiting centers.