WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegers said Thursday that he will allow service members to carry personal weapons onto military installations, citing the Second Amendment and recent shootings at bases across the country.
In a video posted to
Any denial of a service member’s request must be explained in detail in writing, he said.
“In fact, our bases across the country are gun-free zones,” Heggs said. “Unless you are in training, or unless you are a military police officer, you cannot carry, cannot bring your own firearm on duty to protect yourself.”
In the wake of shootings at the nation’s military bases, questions often arise about why service members don’t have access to weapons. Such shootings range from isolated incidents among service members to mass casualty incidents, such as the 2009 shooting in Fort Hood, Texas, by an Army psychiatrist that killed 13 people.
Heggs cited incidents in the video, including a shooting last year at Fort Stewart in Georgia that injured five soldiers. Officials said the gunman, an Army sergeant who worked at the base, used his personal handgun before being subdued by other soldiers and arrested.
“A few minutes can mean a lifetime in a situation like this,” Hegseth said. “Our service members have the courage and training to make these precious brief moments count.”
Defense Department policy prohibits military personnel from carrying personal weapons on base without permission from senior commanders and has strict rules on how firearms should be stored.
Typically, military personnel must formally remove their firearms from secure storage, travel to a base hunting area or shooting range, and then return all firearms immediately upon approval for use. Military police are often the only armed personnel outside bases, shooting ranges, hunting areas or training grounds, and soldiers can use military-style weapons without ammunition.
Tanya Schalter, senior adviser at Brady Gun Violence Prevention, said in a statement that Defense Department leaders and military brass are opposed to loosening the current policy, originally enacted by President George H.W. Bush.
Saudi Arabia noted that most active-duty service members kill themselves with weapons they personally own, rather than military-issued weapons, and argued that “there will undoubtedly be an increase in gun suicides and other gun violence.”
A report released by the Pentagon on Tuesday showed that although the number of U.S. military suicide deaths decreased in 2024, the overall suicide rate among active duty military personnel still gradually increased between 2011 and 2024.
“Our military installations are among the most heavily guarded and protected installations in the world, and they have never been ‘gun-free zones,'” Schalter said. “If there is a problem with violent crime at these facilities, then the secretary of defense has an obligation to alert the American people and explain what he is working to prevent that crime.”
