On April 2, 2026, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth issued a memo directing installation commanders to respect the Second Amendment rights of our service members on United States Military installations. Hegseth noted the Constitution is there to protect the rights of all Americans, including the rights of service members, which are protected by the Second Amendment.
The current policies in place in the United States military made it virtually impossible for service members to be able to carry arms for their own protection unless they were military police or in some training exercises. Installation commanders have had the authority to determine who may carry weapons on their installations. Secretary Hegseth directed installation commanders to start with the presumption that a request by a service member to carry a personal weapon for personal protection is valid.
Our military installations have been turned into gun-free zones—leaving our service members vulnerable and exposed.
That ends today. pic.twitter.com/IQ204YepZ0
— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) April 2, 2026
“The memo I am signing today directs installation commanders to allow a request for personal protection to carry a privately owned firearm with the presumption that it is necessary for personal protection.” Hegseth continued, “If a request is for some reason denied, the reason for that denial will be in writing and will explain in detail the basis for that direction.”
Military bases have been, in effect, gun free zones, where only a very few people, mostly military police, were allowed to be armed. Secretary Hegseth noted recent mass public shooting attacks on military bases at Fort Stewart, Holloman Air Force Base, and Pensacola Naval Air Station.
Online commentary from declared veterans on X was often positive, with comments such as “best Secretary of War ever” and “this should have been done long ago”. Detractors claim there will be a wave of accidental shootings, murders, and suicides as the policy is implemented.
War fighters will be required to follow the laws of the states where they are stationed. 29 states do not currently require a permit to carry handguns, concealed or openly. 21 states require a permit to do so.
At present, only a few states allow concealed carry by persons under the age of 21. The memo applies to service members “…in their nonofficial duty capacity on DOW property within the United States.” The question of Second Amendment rights for 18, 19, and 20-year-olds is being adjudicated in the courts.
In 2015, Donald Trump promised a similar policy. In 2018, this correspondent explained how the policy was neutered by the military bureaucracy in an article entitled Defiance through Compliance.
The complex mechanisms set up in the military bureaucracy made it virtually impossible for the vast majority of service members to carry arms for the defense of self and others, except in an active war zone. All of the incentives were biased against commanders allowing their service members to be armed.
As Secretary of War Hegseth noted, our military bases in the United States can be targeted in asymmetric warfare. Casualties at a United States military base inside the United States could be higher than the minimal casualties that have occurred in operation Epic Fury abroad.
People who have obtained concealed carry permits have proved to be more law-abiding than police officers in the same jurisdictions. Military personnel who are willing to submit a request to their commanding officer in order to be able to carry personal arms for the defense of themselves and others are likely to exhibit the same level of responsibility.
Most mass public shootings take place where the attacker knows most people are not allowed to carry defensive weapons. The memo from Secretary of War Hegseth is designed to remove military bases from that category. The memo directs commanders to assume the need to carry for protection is legitimate. The incentives should become biased toward the protection of the right to bear arms.
Future memos might include retired military members, veterans, or simply those with carry permits among those allowed to carry on military bases. Retired police officers have a mechanism to carry nationwide. An increase in armed defenders increases the odds that one or more will be available to defend against an attack.
About Dean Weingarten:
Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of Constitutional Carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.
I’m still waiting on the instruction &/or clarification. As a retired Navy Sailor, now a Civil Servant, I want to know if I will be allowed to route a request. I mean, 30 years of service should count for something.
Our military is now run as it should be the incentive of rainbows has given way to bombs bursting and rockets firing at our enemies. Those that serve choose to serve should never fear that they can not defend themselves and those brothers and sisters around them from crazy radical left wing infiltrators . Speak up speak out when you think that there is danger in the ranks do something before it is to late.
God Bless are brave men and women that serve.
Looking forward to that “future memo”, to include all those Dean mentioned in the last paragraph.