WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday that he will allow service members to carry , citing the Second Amendment and recent shootings at bases across the country.
In a video posted to X, Hegseth said he is signing a memo that will direct base commanders to allow requests for troops to carry privately owned firearms 鈥渨ith the presumption that it is necessary for personal protection.鈥�
He said any denial of a service member’s request must be explained in detail and in writing.
鈥淓ffectively, our bases across the country were gun-free zones,鈥� Hegseth said. 鈥淯nless 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.鈥�
Questions about why service members lacked access to weapons have often emerged following . Such shootings have ranged from isolated events between service members to mass casualty events, such as the shootings by an Army psychiatrist at Texas鈥� Ford Hood in 2009 that left 13 people dead.
Hegseth cited some of the events in his video, including a in Georgia last year. Officials said the shooter, an Army sergeant who worked at the base, used his personal handgun before he was tackled by fellow soldiers and arrested.
鈥淚n these instances, minutes are a lifetime,鈥� Hegseth said. 鈥淎nd our service members have the courage and training to make those precious, short minutes count.鈥�
Defense Department policy has prohibited military personnel from carrying personal weapons on base without permission from a senior commander, with strict protocol for how the firearms must be stored.
Typically, military personnel must officially check their guns out of secure storage to go to on-base hunting areas or shooting ranges, then check all firearms back in promptly after their sanctioned use. Military police are often the only armed personnel on base, outside of shooting ranges, hunting areas or in training, where soldiers can wield their service weapons without ammunition.
Tanya Schardt, senior counsel at the Brady gun violence prevention organization, said in a statement that Defense Department leaders and the military鈥檚 top brass have opposed relaxing the current policy, which was originally enacted under President George H.W. Bush.
Schardt noted that most active duty service members who die by suicide do so with a weapon they own personally, not one military-issued, and argued that there will 鈥渦ndoubtedly be an increase in gun suicide and other gun violence.鈥�
While fewer American service members died by suicide in 2024, the suicide rates among active duty troops overall still have gradually increased between 2011 and 2024, according to a .
鈥淥ur military installations are among the most guarded, protected properties in the world, and they鈥檝e never been 鈥榞un-free zones,鈥欌�� Schardt said. 鈥淚f there is a problem with violent crime on these installations, then the Secretary of Defense has an obligation to alert the American people and describe how he鈥檚 working to prevent that crime.鈥�
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