Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has unveiled a substantial policy reversal that will permit United States military personnel to carry personally owned firearms on military installations across the country. The announcement, made in a video posted to social media platform X on Thursday, is grounded in the Second Amendment and a string of recent shootings at various bases.
Policy Shift Details and Implementation
Mr Hegseth confirmed he is signing a memorandum that will direct base commanders to approve requests from troops to carry privately owned weapons, operating with a presumption that such measures are necessary for personal protection. Any decision to deny a service member's request must be comprehensively justified in writing, he emphasised.
"Effectively, our bases across the country were gun-free zones," Hegseth stated. "Unless you're training or unless you are a military policeman, you couldn't carry, you couldn't bring your own firearm for your own personal protection onto post."
Historical Context and Recent Incidents
Questions regarding why service members lacked access to weapons have frequently arisen following shootings on the nation's military bases. These incidents have varied from isolated altercations between service members to mass casualty events, such as the 2009 shooting by an Army psychiatrist at Texas' Fort Hood that resulted in thirteen fatalities.
Hegseth referenced several of these events in his video, including a shooting last year at Fort Stewart in Georgia that injured five soldiers. Officials reported that the shooter, an Army sergeant employed at the base, utilised his personal handgun before being subdued by fellow soldiers and apprehended.
"In these instances, minutes are a lifetime," Hegseth remarked. "And our service members have the courage and training to make those precious, short minutes count."
Previous Defence Department Regulations
Defence Department policy had previously prohibited military personnel from carrying personal weapons on base without explicit authorisation from a senior commander, accompanied by stringent protocols for firearm storage. Typically, military personnel were required to formally check their guns out of secure storage for activities such as on-base hunting or shooting ranges, then promptly return all firearms after sanctioned use.
Military police were often the sole armed personnel on base, outside of designated areas like shooting ranges, hunting zones, or training exercises where soldiers could handle their service weapons without ammunition.
