{"id":22633,"date":"2026-04-03T00:28:43","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T00:28:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2026\/04\/03\/hegseth-tears-up-controversial-military-base-rule-after-34-years\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T00:28:43","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T00:28:43","slug":"hegseth-tears-up-controversial-military-base-rule-after-34-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2026\/04\/03\/hegseth-tears-up-controversial-military-base-rule-after-34-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Hegseth Tears Up Controversial Military Base Rule After 34 Years"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div style=\"position:relative\" data-narration-container=\"true\">\n<p>War Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on Thursday that he was ending the policy that turned U.S. military installations into \u201cgun-free zones,\u201d declaring in a brief video statement, \u201cThat ends today.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.war.gov\/News\/News-Stories\/Article\/Article\/4450527\/hegseth-authorizes-off-duty-service-members-to-carry-private-firearms-on-instal\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hegseth<\/a> signed a memorandum stating that base commanders should allow service members to request permission to carry their privately-owned firearms while off duty \u2014 regardless of any firearm regulations imposed by the states in which the bases were located \u2014 and shared video explaining the move.<\/p>\n<p><strong>WATCH:<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Our military installations have been turned into gun-free zones\u2014leaving our service members vulnerable and exposed.<\/p>\n<p>That ends today. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/IQ204YepZ0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/IQ204YepZ0<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SecWar\/status\/2039803944965185634?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">April 2, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cOur great republic is founded on a simple, yet bold idea,\u201d Hegseth began, saying that the nation was built the idea that rights were given to the people by God rather than by the government. \u201c250 years ago, the Revolutionary War was fought to secure our God-given rights. The Second Amendment to our Constitution enshrines the right of all citizens to carry weapons to protect themselves, their families, and their fellow countrymen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hegseth went on to point out that America\u2019s men and women in uniform were already well-trained in the use of firearms and should not be barred from exercising their rights simply because they were on a military installation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur warfighters defend the right of others to carry; they should be able to carry themselves,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Hegseth went on to cite recent attacks on military installations, arguing that if trained service members were allowed to arm themselves, such threats could potentially be neutralized in shorter order.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn these instances, minutes are a lifetime,\u201d he explained. \u201cAnd our service members have the courage and training to make those precious, short minutes count. Before today, it was virtually impossible \u2026 for War Department personnel to get permission to carry and store their own personal weapons aligned with the state laws where we operate our installations. \u2026 Well, that\u2019s no longer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe memo I\u2019m signing today directs installation commanders to allow requests for personal protection \u2014 to carry a privately owned firearm \u2014 with the presumption that it is necessary for personal protection,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>The policy effectively turning military bases into <a href=\"https:\/\/www.americas1stfreedom.org\/content\/trump-speaks-out-against-gun-free-zones-on-military-bases\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">gun-free zones<\/a> \u2014 Department of Defense Directive 5210.56 \u2014 went into effect in February of 1992, and restricted on-base carrying to \u201cDoD personnel regularly engaged in law-enforcement and security duties.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>President Donald Trump, during his first presidential campaign in 2015, spoke out against the policy and said that he would ensure that \u201cAmerica\u2019s armed forces will be armed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Trump said at the time that the United States \u201cnever should have passed a ban on soldiers being able to protect themselves on bases \u2026 Our brave soldiers should not be at risk because of policy created by civilian leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/hegseth-tears-up-controversial-military-base-rule-after-34-years\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>War Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on Thursday that he was ending the policy that turned U.S. military installations into \u201cgun-free zones,\u201d declaring in a brief video statement, \u201cThat ends today.\u201d Hegseth signed a memorandum stating that base commanders should allow service members to request permission to carry their privately-owned firearms while off duty \u2014 regardless [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22634,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-22633","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-current-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22633\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}