Nevada Sen. Dean Heller knew it wasn’t a good idea to ban arms from our military bases and recruiting centers, which is why in June—weeks before the Chattanooga attack—he submitted an amendment to the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act which would “give military base commanders the authority to allow service members to carry personal firearms.” Unfortunately, his amendment was blocked, by none other than Sen. John McCain.
The Republican senator explained in an interview on the Lars Larson Show that McCain, who’s the Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman, “didn’t want the amendment as part of the [2016 National Defense Authorization] bill and wouldn't accept it."
Five days after the horrible shooting in Tennessee, Heller resubmitted his amendment, which asked that the NDAA conferees include it to help prevent similar situations from happening again.
"I encourage all conferees to look at my amendment, along with the language passed by the House, as a reasonable and effective way to move forward on this issue and give our nation's base commanders the authority they need to create a safer environment for our heroes serving across America,” Heller's letter to the Committee read. “Never should the men and women serving at home have to be afraid that the base they work, and often live, on is not safe."