Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam said Sunday he would order a review of security and safety at all state military facilities — such as the storefront recruitment center in Chattanooga that was one of two military buildings targeted by a gunman last week.
In an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press," Haslam said the review would take a look at where it would be appropriate for officers "to be armed to a better degree than they were in the past."
Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez, 24, sprayed a military recruiting center in Chattanooga with bullets on Thursday, then drove seven miles to a Navy and Marines reserve training center, where he shot the four Marines to death. Abdulazeez was killed after a shootout with police.
The attack left the doors of the recruiting center, which is part of a strip mall, riddled with more than two dozen bullet holes. A sign on the door has a picture of a gun with a circle and red line through it, and says, "Firearms are prohibited in this facility."
In general, personnel at recruiting centers only carry weapons if they are in an official security role.
Haslam, a Republican in his second term, said Sunday that he would need the help of the federal government to make some changes to how federal facilities were protected.
RELATED: Are We Doing Enough to Protect the Military in the U.S.?
“We don't want to put our adjudicant generals in a difficult position of giving them an order that they can't carry out because it's on a federal facility. So we're doing a complete review to see what we can,” the government said.
Defense officials weighed in Friday on possible enhanced security measures.
Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter ordered the armed services to review whether additional safety measures are needed at military bases across the country. Carter will receive recommendations by the end of this week, according to a Defense Department statement.
Gen. Ray Odierno, the Army’s chief of staff, warned Friday that arming troops at recruiting and reserve centers may create more problems than they will solve.
Odierno told reporters that the military will review security at those facilities. But he said that recruiters are not armed because of the Posse Comitatus Act, which prevents the military from engaging in domestic law enforcement.
