If the Obama administration won’t protect military recruiters, Americans will. In a flood of support for the four Marines and sailor killed in the Chattanooga shooting, veterans and other Americans are showing up at recruiting stations all around the country to stand guard over those who’ve stood guard for us. Armed citizens — many of them military veterans — are outraged that the same troops fighting to defend the Second Amendment can’t exercise it themselves. “We are here to serve and protect,” said Clint Janney, who, like many is angry at the gun-free zones for military personnel. “What the government won’t do, we will.” Impromptu guard forces like Janney’s are cropping up everywhere — as much a symbol of defiance as defense. Some men sit in lawn chairs outside the centers, others stand by the door, but their posture is the same: alert. “They’re sitting ducks,” Stewart Rhodes said of the unarmed Marines. “They’d be better off if they were walking down the streets of Baghdad.” In Madison, veterans have said their presence is a sign of civic pride. “It’s good to show that people can still come together,” they wanted the New York Daily News to know. Meanwhile, most Americans are still waiting for some of that patriotism to rub off on the commander-in-chief. Despite enormous outcry, it took the president five days to lower the White House’s flags to half-staff in memorial to the five service members who died. As my good friend Rep. Louie Gohmert pointed out, “I think the position of the flag tells you a lot about the priorities of this White House.” So do the colors of it. Within hours of the Supreme Court’s marriage ruling, the “people’s house” was bathing in rainbow lights. But when four fellow Marines and a sailor, our nation’s courageous and brave, were gunned down, where is that same urgency?
