April 2, 2026 / 9:48 PM EDT / CBS/AP
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced he will allow service members to bring privately owned firearms onto military installations, saying the change is rooted in Second Amendment rights and a response to recent base shootings. In a video posted to X, Hegseth said he is signing a memo directing base commanders to permit requests to carry personal weapons with a presumption that the request is necessary for personal protection. He said any denial must be explained in writing.
Hegseth described many bases as having been effectively gun-free zones except for training activities and military police. Calls to expand access to firearms often follow isolated incidents and larger attacks, from the 2009 Fort Hood shooting that killed 13 to a shooting at Fort Stewart, Georgia, last year that wounded five soldiers. Officials say the Fort Stewart shooter, an Army sergeant assigned to the base, used his personal handgun before being detained; Army prosecutors say he is seeking to plead guilty to attempted murder and other charges.
Under current Defense Department policy, service members are barred from carrying personal weapons on post without permission from a senior commander, and strict rules govern storage. Service members typically check privately owned guns out of secure storage for approved activities such as on-base hunting or range use and must return them promptly. Outside those activities, military police are often the only armed personnel on installations.
Tanya Schardt, senior counsel at the Brady gun violence prevention organization, warned the policy change could increase suicides and other gun violence. She noted most active-duty service members who die by suicide use a personally owned firearm, not a military-issued weapon. Pentagon data show suicide rates among active-duty troops rose gradually from 2011 through 2024, though the total number of deaths fell in 2024. Schardt said military installations are already among the most protected properties and urged the Defense Department to explain how it will prevent violent crime on bases.
The firearms decision is one of several policy shifts Hegseth has pursued since becoming Pentagon leader. He has criticized what he calls woke policies and pushed changes to military equal opportunity rules, grooming and fitness standards. The department has moved to cut ties with certain graduate programs he views as ideological, directed libraries to identify and sometimes remove diversity, equity and inclusion materials, announced reforms to the Chaplain Corps, and removed or forced the retirement of several senior officers, most recently asking Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George to take immediate retirement.