NASHVILLE — While the state’s handgun-carry permitting process is being accelerated for Tennessee National Guard members following last week’s slaying of five U.S. servicemen, Gov. Bill Haslam’s office acknowledges the directive does not yet address whether Guard personnel can bring their firearms to work.
“It’s an issue still being worked on at this point,” Haslam spokeswoman Laura Herzog said Thursday in an email.
Haslam on Wednesday announced he had moved the state’s seven storefront recruiting centers to more secure facilities in National Guard armories.
But because at least some are co-located with federal military installations or on federally owned property, there are legal issues involved. The U.S. military does not allow firearms except for designated personnel, administration officials have previously said.
Nathan Bell, left, and Sen. Mike Bell, R-Riceville stand Thursday outside of the Armed Forces Career Center in Cleveland,The Tennessee Firearms Association said the governor’s plans say “nothing about arming the Tennessee military facilities to repel future terrorist attacks on those facilities. It does not indicate any plans to prepare the Tennessee military to respond to possible terrorist attacks at non-military civilian targets” and eliminate what the group calls “gun-free zones” vulnerable to “terrorist attacks.”