On Friday, I shared the Governor’s state order lowering flags until further notice for the service members killed in the Chattanooga attack. Today, the President issued a new proclamation, ordering lowering American flags across the nation (and oversees) today through sunset on July 25, 2015:
Our thoughts and prayers as a Nation are with the service members killed last week in Chattanooga. We honor their service. We offer our gratitude to the police officers and first responders who stopped the rampage and saved lives. We draw strength from yet another American community that has come together with an unmistakable message to those who would try and do us harm: We do not give in to fear. You cannot divide us. And you will not change our way of life.
We ask God to watch over the fallen, the families, and their communities. As a mark of respect for the victims of the senseless acts of violence perpetrated on July 16, 2015, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, by the authority vested in me as President of the United States by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, I hereby order that the flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff at the White House and upon all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its Territories and possessions until sunset, July 25, 2015. I also direct that the flag shall be flown at half-staff for the same length of time at all United States embassies, legations, consular offices, and other facilities abroad, including all military facilities and naval vessels and stations.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-first day of July, in the year of our Lord two thousand fifteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and fortieth.
BARACK OBAMA
(photo from Susan Fitzgerald)
It’s about time for the flags were lowered, considering the men died days ago.
The flags were lowered last Friday. We have a very respectful Governor whom issued the order to lower the flags until further notice. Too bad our Commander in Chief doesn’t have the same respect.
As tragic and senseless as they were, the Chattanooga deaths involved members of the U.S. armed forces who are considered to have been killed in the line of duty (unlike the other mass shooting events which involved civilian deaths), and while individual states often lower their flags to honor local natives or residents who die in the service of their country, doing so at a national level would require the President to pick and choose among service deaths to decide which to so honor.