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Gov. Scott Secures Florida National Guard Recruiting Centers In Response To Chattanooga Shooting

Florida Governor Rick Scott speaking about his executive order at the National Guard Base in Jacksonville on Wednesday.
Gregory Todaro
/
WJCT News
Florida Governor Rick Scott speaking about his executive order at the National Guard Base in Jacksonville on Wednesday.
Florida Governor Rick Scott speaking about his executive order at the National Guard Base in Jacksonville on Wednesday.
Credit Gregory Todaro / WJCT News
/
WJCT News
Florida Governor Rick Scott speaking about his executive order at the National Guard Base in Jacksonville on Wednesday.

Florida Governor Rick Scott talked to guardsmen at a Jacksonville National Guard base Wednesday about how he’s working to protect them in the wake of last week’s Chattanooga shooting.

National Guard recruiting centers across the state are being temporarily relocated until they are made more secure.

Scott has moved the state’s six recruiting centers to their closest National Guard Armory. He says he’s working with Adjutant General of Florida Michael Calhoun to make the centers safer.

“Whether it’s bullet-proof glass, whether we need to have patrols, whatever we need to do,” he said. “But they’re not going to be reopened until they’re safe.”

Scott also wants to ensure all qualified guardsmen are armed. Scott says he thinks President Obama should take similar action across the country.

“I hope the president will look at what we’re doing in Florida,” he said. “This is pure common sense. This is not politics, this is common sense. Our military needs to be safe.”

While in town, Scott also stopped at Jacksonville’s Johnson & Johnson Vision Care to congratulate that company on creating 100 new jobs.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story incorrectly said in the headline that Governor Scott was securing National Guard bases. Governor Scott is securing the recruiting centers by moving them into the nearest National Guard base.

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Gregory Todaro is currently in his third year in the journalism department at Concordia University in Montreal. Growing up in Jacksonville, Gregory attended Stanton College Preparatory School and was a member of the award winning student newspaper, the Devil’s Advocate, of which he became Editor-in-Chief in his senior year. Since then, Gregory continued his work with student media, joining The Concordian student newspaper in his freshman year.