Terrorists will look for a different soft target.
Via Chattanooga Time Free Press:
Sen. Richard Briggs, R-Knoxville, said Thursday that he will introduce a bill granting immunity and personal liability protection for Tennessee National Guard members now able to go armed after the July 16 attacks in Chattanooga.
“Our Tennessee National Guardsmen have become targets of terrorists as demonstrated by the tragic events in Chattanooga,” said Briggs, a retired U.S. Army colonel who did combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The intent of the bill, he said in a news release, “is to provide the service member legal cover in defending him or herself and others during a terrorist attack.
“I believe my fellow Tennesseans and state legislators will agree this protection is necessary for our Guardsmen,” Briggs added.
During his shooting rampage, Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez first attacked a U.S. military recruiting center in a strip mall on Lee Highway with semi-automatic weapons. Next door was a Tennessee National Guard recruiting station.
Abdulazeez then sped off to Amnicola Highway, where he attacked the U.S. Navy and Marine Reserve Center.
Four Marines were killed and a sailor was mortally wounded before Abdulazeez was shot to death by Chattanooga police officers.
Federal officials have stopped short of calling Abdulazeez, a Kuwait-born 24-year-old whose family says he suffered from depression and other problems, a terrorist. Instead, they describe him as a “homegrown violent extremist.”
The shootings forced a re-evaluation of state and U.S. policies regarding the arming of soldiers based on U.S. soil.
Tennessee adjutant General Max Haston, acting on Gov. Bill Haslam’s instructions, issued a new policy allowing Guard members with state-issued handgun carry permits to carry them at state-owned facilities such as armories.