6 Governors Order National Guard To Be Armed

Published July 20, 2015 at 1:06 PM EDT

Members of the FBI Evidence Response Team investigate the shooting at the Armed Forces Career Center/National Guard Recruitment Office on July 17, 2015 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

The governors of six states – Texas, Florida, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Indiana and Arkansas – have signed orders in the last several days to allow National Guard troops to carry loaded guns on base and at military recruiting centers in the U.S.

The moves come just days after a gunman opened fire at a military recruiting center in Chattanooga, Tennessee, killing five people.

Ben Watson, news editor for Defense One, joins Here & Now’s Meghna Chakrabarti to discuss the orders, as well as the reason that National Guard service members are not armed when they are on base or at military recruiting centers.