President Donald Trump promised to review the policy that restricts guns on military bases during a speech Friday, eliciting applause from the audience at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) outside Washington, D.C.
“They’re totally unprotected” Trump said, referring to a shooting at a military base several years ago where five were killed, suggesting that if the service members had been armed, “the guy would not have had a chance.”
“A maniac walked in, guns blazing, killed all of them. He would not have had a chance if these world-class marksmen had — on a military base — access to their guns,” Trump said.
Trump may have been referring to the 2015 shooting at two military facilities in Chattanooga, Tenn., where four Marines and the shooter were killed. He also said that “we have had a number of instances on our military bases, you know that. So we want to protect our military bases.”
“I’m going to look at that whole policy on the military bases,” Trump said.
The shooting at a Parkland, Fl., high school that killed 17 people reignited the debate over gun-free zones, and Trump claims that eliminating guns from certain areas makes places even more of a target for shooters.
During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump promised to end gun-free zones at military bases and schools, and several legislative efforts are in the works to allow service members to carry guns while on base.
“I will get rid of gun-free zones on schools, and — you have to — and on military bases,” Trump said during a campaign speech in January 2016. “My first day, it gets signed, okay? My first day. There’s no more gun-free zones.”
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