Navy Recruiters Will Be Armed

Navy will put armed sailors at recruiting centers after July 16 attack
Times Free Press
Shelly Bradbury
July 15th, 2016

The U.S. Navy will put armed sailors at recruiting centers across the nation in the wake of the July 16 attack in Chattanooga, a Navy spokesman confirmed Friday.

An FBI investigator investigates the scene of a shooting outside a military recruiting center on Friday, July 17, 2015, in Chattanooga, Tenn. Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez of Hixson, Tenn., attacked two military facilities on Thursday, in a shooting rampage that killed four Marines.

(AP Photo/John Bazemore)

The personnel will be armed with both lethal and non-lethal weapons and will be stationed at recruiting centers across the nation in the coming months, Capt. Jack Hanzlik said.

The move is one of several changes the Navy has made to security and policy after the attack a year ago, when a 24-year-old gunman opened fire on a recruiting center on Lee Highway — injuring one Marine — before driving to the U.S. Naval and Marine Reserve Center on Amnicola Highway, where the shooter killed four Marines and mortally wounded a Navy sailor.

"The arming of personnel at these facilities provides both a deterrent value and a defensive capability against potential attacks," Capt. Ray Benedict wrote in a Navy statement.
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