Akron man among civilians protecting unarmed military personnel

July 24--Jason P. Charlton is armed and determined to protect his unarmed military brothers and sisters at the Armed Forces Career Center in Barberton.

"They take care of us and we have to take care of them. I served in the Army, so I'm part of the brotherhood," said Charlton, 40, who lives in Akron's Kenmore neighborhood. "These men and women [at the center] are unarmed and defenseless and I will do what I can to protect them. My hope is that anyone hoping to do harm to them will see me out here and change their mind."

Charlton, a local attorney who specializes in tax and estate planning, began his mission this week -- motivated by last week's fatal shootings of four Marines and a Navy sailor at a U.S. Navy Reserve Center in Chattanooga, Tenn. Like the Reserve Center, the Career Center in Barberton operates under the ban on military personnel to carry weapons at military recruitment facilities and bases.

In response to the Chattanooga shootings, Ohio Gov. John Kasich on Wednesday instructed the adjutant general of Ohio, Major Gen. Mark E. Bartman, to increase security at recruitment offices and National Guard facilities. Bartman has granted authorization for personnel at Ohio National Guard recruitment offices to carry firearms and is updating policies and training requirements for personnel and reviewing security measures at the facilities.

"The governor has made it very clear that we must take action to protect our members who are actively engaged in public recruitment efforts," Bartman said in a news release. "We are updating our policies and strengthening small firearm training so that those men and women staffing our recruitment offices may protect themselves in the event of a threat."

Earlier this week, Ohio temporarily closed four of its Ohio National Guard "storefront" recruitment offices in Painesville, Findlay, Columbus and Dayton. Staff at those facilities were moved to nearby armories.

Since the deadly shootings, Charlton and other civilians have gathered outside military recruitment centers in an effort to protect the unarmed recruiters from potential attacks.

The military newspaper Stars and Stripes reported this week that a U.S. Army Recruiting Command policy letter released on Monday warns soldiers to avoid armed citizens standing outside recruiting centers and to report to local law enforcement if they feel threatened.

While some of the armed civilians are associated with activist groups and militias, Charlton, an NRA firearms instructor, said he is acting on his own.

He has shown up at the recruitment office in Magic City Plaza since Tuesday, carrying a red folding chair, a Colt 1911 handgun in a side holster and an AR-15 sports rifle, strapped to his back.

"I believe most people doing this are veterans who want to protect our recruiters, who fall under federal domain and aren't impacted by the governor's authorization for the Ohio National Guard to be armed," Charlton said. "I hope the federal government will follow the lead of the governors who are making sure national guardsmen are trained, armed and ready to protect themselves. And I hope that the civilians standing in front of these recruiting centers are like me, trained to carry and use a firearm."

Charlton's hopes were dashed Thursday afternoon at the recruitment center in Barberton, when he heard that a civilian protecting a recruiting center at a strip mall in Lancaster, about 30 miles southeast of Columbus, had unintentionally discharged his AR-15 rifle while attempting to clear ammunition from the weapon. According to published reports, the bullet struck the ground and no one was injured. Police were asked by strip mall management to escort all armed civilians from the property.

The man who fired the weapon was cited and his gun was confiscated.

"There's always one to make us all look bad. I'm just glad no one was hurt," Charlton said. "I'm not here to be reckless or to intimidate anybody. I'm here to discourage someone from doing anything to harm these recruiters. My thought is that if they see me standing here, they will think twice. Most people who attack unarmed people are cowards and when they see resistance, it will repel the threat."

Colette Jenkins can be reached at 330-996-3731 or [email protected]. She can be followed at www.twitter.com/ColetteMJenkins.

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