NASHVILLE – U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais, R-Tenn., says his bill overturning a 1992 Department of Defense directive barring most service members from carrying firearms at U.S. facilities is necessary because a new directive reportedly issued by a top Pentagon official doesn’t go far enough.
U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlaisState Action
Sen. Mike Bell, R-Riceville, meanwhile, has filed a resolution calling for federal action to end gun-free zones at military facilities. Bell drafted the resolution in the wake of the Chattanooga attack.“We cannot in good conscience send young men and women abroad to fight our enemy only to disarm them when they serve here at home,” Bell said in a news release. Tennessee’s congressional delegation on Monday introduced legislation that would lift the federal ban on guns at recruiting centers and other military installations.
“I think that it does fall short,” the South Pittsburg congressman said Monday after he and Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, introduced legislation. “From what I’ve heard they’re basically taking steps to enhance security, doing things such as closing the blinds.”
“What we really need is to have military personnel who are trained to use appropriate military-issue weapons be put into a position where they can defend themselves in an instance of attacks like we saw in Chattanooga,” he said.
DesJarlais and Cohen’s bill is a response to the attack by 24-year-old Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez that killed four Marines and a Navy petty officer Thursday.