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Indiana Governor Mike Pence, in addition to a few other governors, has directed his state Adjutant General to authorize arming National Guard members at armories and recruiting stations throughout the state.

You’ll note, until such time as they are called to federal service, Guard members answer to the state governor as the Commander in Chief.

It should be noted that recruiting for the National Guard is wholly separate from recruiting for the regular active duty and federal reserve components. That is, in my Army recruiting station, we had a mix of active and reserve recruiters, and the local Indiana Guard recruiter was just as much direct competition to us as the Air Force recruiter was.

Arming the local Guard Armory shouldn’t pose too many challenges. Armories by definition are a location for the storage of weapons. And most will have at least a handful of sidearms allocated. Having the duty NCO strap on a weapon makes sense. We’ve argued before that the duty NCO in most units in the active forces should sign for and carry (or at least be immediately able to access) a weapon.

The issue isn’t quite as simple as the governor issuing an edict, however.  Policy and guidance on such things as physical security for weapons and ammunition, rules of engagement, instruction on the law of self defense will need to be instituted. Will privately owned weapons be permitted, or only issue government property? If privately owned weapons are permitted, what types? Will recruiters be permitted to carry a weapon outside the confines of the recruiting station?

Will every Guardsman suddenly start carrying? Will they be open carried or concealed? Will the Guardsmen have to abide by relevant Indiana law concerning either concealed carry or open carry?

Believe it or not, most people in the service don’t spend a lot of time working with firearms, particularly pistols. The guy that enlists to serve as a supply clerk will, understandably, spend most of his time doing supply clerk stuff. In fact, recruiters, for instance,  simply don’t deal with weapons at all in a duty capacity. 

There will be consequences. There will be negligent discharges, and lost or stolen weapons. And sooner or later, a member of the armed forces will shoot an American citizen.  Planning, training, and leadership must address these concerns.