Hegseth allows troops to carry personal firearms while on base

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Thursday that service members would be allowed to carry their personal firearms on military installations, a major change in regulations.

Mr. Hegseth said the military will be able to apply for permission to carry their weapons on installations, eventually allowing troops to carry them concealed on the job.

The commanders in charge of each government installation will be responsible for responding to these requests.

“In fact, our bases across the country were gun-free zones,” Mr. Hegseth said, noting that troops were only allowed to carry firearms during active training or when assigned to military police duty.

The memo is titled “Unofficial Personal Protective Armament on War Department Property,” according to a statement posted on the department’s website. The memo itself was not made public Thursday evening.

The new rule will create “the presumption” that carrying a firearm is necessary for personal protection, Mr. Hegseth said.

Commanders will be required to put in writing any denial of requests and explain the reasons why they arrested service members who request to carry their firearms on their government installations.

Mr. Hegseth said the military “are trained to the highest and unwavering standards” and will have the “courage and training” to use their weapons in possible active shooter scenarios that have played out at bases across the country.

The vast majority of military personnel are trained to use a rifle, not a pistol, as the department’s primary service weapon.

“Recent events like what happened at Fort Stewart, Holloman Air Force Base or Naval Air Station Pensacola have made it clear that some threats are closer to us than we would like,” Hegseth said.

An active duty airman was injured in a shooting at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, in mid-March.

The shooting caused the base to go into lockdown until base security was able to confirm the situation was safe. The shooter, himself a veteran, committed suicide at the scene, according to a news release issued by the 49th Wing public affairs office.

In August of last year, five active-duty soldiers were injured at Fort Stewart, Georgia, when another active-duty soldier opened fire on his colleagues. The gunman testified in court that his ultimate goal was to attract military police and die in a shootout.

A Saudi Air Force officer, motivated by Islamist jihad ideology, killed three sailors and injured eight others in 2019 at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida. The incident was classified as an act of terrorism by the FBI.

Maj. Nidal Hassan was labeled an “insider threat” by the Army and a “lone wolf” terrorist after he walked into a deployment center at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009 and fired 200 rounds, killing 13 department employees.

He was found guilty by court martial and sentenced to death, but still awaits execution.

“Not all enemies are foreigners,” Mr. Hegseth said.

The memorandum will not apply strictly to the Pentagon, however.

It says Pentagon personnel will be considered for “storing a privately owned firearm in a vehicle on Pentagon reserve,” according to the department’s statement.