CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – Democratic presidential candidate Jim Webb called for letting service members carry weapons at military facilities in light of the shooting at two Marine recruiting offices in Chattanooga, Tennessee, this week, in an exclusive interview with msnbc.
Webb, himself a former Marine, said he is not only heartbroken by the shooting but also concerned "about the policies that exposed our people in so many different places, that don¹t allow them to defend themselves." Since at least 1992, the military has not allowed service members to carry firearms without permission, even if they have state-issued permits to carry weapons.
"I've talked to senior military leadership about this," he told msnbc. "We really should be allowing our people who are exposed to that threat the tools to defend themselves if something happens."
Jim Webb, Webb Campaign Press Release - Jim Webb: Slain Marines Should Have Had Guns Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/313173