Armed Veterans Stand Guard At Military Recruitment Center To Protect “Brothers”

By: Laura Meyers

Two armed military veterans are guarding a military recruitment center in Monroe, North Carolina as a response to the recent shooting that killed five US servicemen at another recruitment center in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Army Veteran John Autry and Air Force veteran Kevin Collins, both retired veterans, stood outside the recruitment center armed yesterday with a 9mm pistol and an AR-15.

Federal regulations require service members to be unarmed at recruitment centers, despite being part of the “armed services.”

So, Autry and Collins found it to be their duty to guard their brothers-in-arms since they aren’t allowed protect themselves.

“They’re willing to put their life on the line for us and I’m doing the same,” Autry said.

The men plan to guard the center from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day the center is open until Congress passes a law that allows the service members to protect themselves.

The original story from WSOC cites the law that prevents service members from being armed in reserve centers and recruitment offices.

Called the Posse Comitatus Act, this law, passed in 1878, was meant to keep the military from acting as a federal form of law enforcement.

“We took an oath, we stand by each other, right?” Autry asked, looking at Collins. He replied, “That’s right.”

RELATED: Congress To Introduce Bill To Arm Military Recruiters 

Currently, there is a bill being finalized in Congress that would either allow officers in charge of recruiting centers to carry a weapon or would require there be outside security for military recruiting centers.

“It’s just ridiculous that you have people in the armed forces, in the military that are trained to use weapons to defend themselves and us and our government has handcuffed them so they cannot defend themselves,” Collins said.

H/t Rare Military