Stressing that the Second Amendment applies to all lawful Americans, including service members, on April 2, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth signed a memorandum that will allow off-duty servicemembers to carry personal firearms on military bases for self-defense purposes.
The memorandum directs military installation commanders to allow War Department personnel—namely, uniformed service members—to request to carry privately owned firearms while in their nonofficial duty capacity on DOW property within the United States.
“Our military installations have been turned into gun-free zones—leaving or service members vulnerable and exposed,” Hegseth wrote in a post on X. “That ends today.”
In a video accompanying the social media post, Hegseth said the memorandum is an important one.
“Before today, it was virtually impossible … for War Department personnel to get permission to carry and store their own personal weapons aligned with the state laws where we operate our installations,” he said in the video. “Well, that’s no longer.”
Hegseth said the memo directs installation commanders to allow the requests with the “presumption that it is necessary for personal protection.”
“The War Department’s uniformed service members are trained at the highest and unwavering standards,” he said. “These warfighters—entrusted with the safety of our nation—are no less entitled to exercise their God-given right to keep and bear arms than any other American.”
In explaining his rationale, Hegseth mentioned three attacks on military bases where servicemen were killed or injured without the ability to defend themselves. The included the attack at Naal Air Station, Pensacola, Florida, in late 2019, the shooting and wounding of five Fort Stewart, Georgia, soldiers by a fellow soldier, and the shooting of two individuals at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, just last month.
“Recent events … have made clear that some threats are closer to home than we would like,” he said. “In these instances, minutes are a lifetime, and our service members have the courage and training to make those precious short minutes count.”
Hegseth made it clear later in the video that if a request to carry is for some reason denied, the reason must be in writing and explain in detail the basis for that decision.
“Again, the presumption is service members will be able to have their Second Amendment right on post,” he said.
Gun-ban groups, who never want to see anyone armed except for police and violent criminals, were quick to push the notion that military bases would become killing fields. In a press release on the matter, Brady United said, “Hegseth’s new firearms policy will undoubtedly lead to an increase in gun suicide and other gun violence on military bases.”
Of course, Brady and other gun-ban advocates have said the same thing as state by state has instituted constitutional carry laws, and crime has fallen across the country. Their tenacity to stick to the same lies for years despite proof to the contrary shows just how crazy some in the anti-gun crowd really are.
