Mike Burley/AP Republican presidential candidate Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker addresses a crowd at Giese Manufacturingi n Dubuque, Iowa, Sunday.
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Wisconsin is now the seventh state to permit members of the National Guard to carry weapons on duty, following its authorization by Gov. Scott Walker.
“Safety must be our top priority, especially in light of the horrific attack in Chattanooga”, Governor Walker said.
Wisconsin joins a handful of states that have moved to allow certain National Guard personnel to carry weapons following shootings at two military sites that are being investigated as domestic terrorism.
The governors of Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas, all Republicans, have already announced plans to arm Guardsmen.
Besides local armories and Armed Forces Reserve Centers, the Guard staffs eight storefront recruiting centers in Oklahoma like the one in Tennessee where a gunman targeted military members last week.
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Those concerns were taken to a higher level last week after the Chattanooga shootings, which left four Marines and a sailor dead.
