Crystina Page Steinmetz stands guard outside a Colorado Springs, Colo., Armed Forces Career Center Wednesday, July 22, 2015. Gun-toting citizens are showing up at military recruiting centers around the country, saying they plan to protect recruiters following last week’s killing of four Marines and a sailor in Chattanooga, Tenn. (Michael Ciaglo/The Gazette via AP) COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Gov. John Kasich on Wednesday authorized personnel at Ohio National Guard recruitment centers to carry weapons following the shooting in Tennessee that killed four Marines and a sailor, The Associated Press has learned.
At Kasich’s instruction, Major General Mark Bartman, the Adjutant General of Ohio, granted the authorization as part of an update of policies and training requirements for the recruiting centers and a review of all security measures.
An investigator walks by the entrance of a Navy and Marine center in Chattanooga, Tenn., on Wednesday, July 22, 2015. Law enforcement officials for the first time provided details about how Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez crashed the gates with his car and opened fire on the service members inspecting equipment there, killing four Marines and one sailor. (AP Photo/Erik Schelzig)“The governor has made it very clear that we must take action to protect our members who are actively engaged in public recruitment efforts,” Bartman said in a statement provided to the AP. “We are updating our policies and strengthening small firearm training so that those men and women staffing our recruitment offices may protect themselves in the event of a threat.”
Ohio joins several other states where Guard personnel have been authorized to carry weapons after the Chattanooga shooting, whose victims included a sailor who grew up in Paulding in northwestern Ohio and a Marine whose father lives in central Ohio.
In addition, the Ohio Guard earlier this week temporarily moved personnel from four store-front recruitment offices in Columbus, Dayton, Findlay and Painesville to nearby armories.