Governors in six states (at least) Florida, Indiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Texas ordered their Guardsmen to be armed
I wonder how much of this is just political posturing.
Only a liberal in control could have ever thought to make a military base a gun free zone
A quick google search comes up with the argument that the first Bush made military bases "gun free zones."
Bush I did it, Clinton enacted it.
http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a272176.pdf
The directive is from February 1992.
Clinton was elected in November of 1992, and became president in 1993.
I don't believe Bush I was a liberal.
And it's not a blanket ban on firearms so much as restricting and controlling who uses them. Government looooooves control.
And personally, I would prefer military bases be "gun free zones."
Having a standing military, and especially national guardsmen, always armed pretty much makes it a militia.
If we have a perpetually armed army/militia, then that just helps erode any reason for other private citizens, who choose not to sign up to be part of the militia, to bear arms.
What's the 2nd amenmdment?
"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
I have no desire to help out any opponents to the 2nd amendment, even indirectly.
The military has specific rules for war, of when and where and how they can be used.
If they aren't at war, directly participating in war, they're little more than private citizens.
They should not be armed with weapons. Military base, high school recruitment drives, whatever.
That's what the police are for. I sure as hell don't want armed military personnel to all of a sudden seem "attractive" as support for law enforcement.
"Oh no, more school shootings..welllllll, we have all these armed military personnel...let's just assign some to the schools. It's for the kids! Wellllll, we have all these armed military personnel...let's just start using them to serve warrants and support in law enforcement, providing stop and frisk and random stop and searches."
Allowing/not restricting personal weapons, maybe, but "ordered to be armed?"
No thanks.
It just steepens a slippery slope, IMO.
And at best it sends the message that the military shouldn't trust the communities they are a part of and needs to defend itself against them, separating it further.