In a video posted to the social media platform X, Hegseth said he is signing a memo directing base commanders to approve requests for privately owned firearms “with the presumption that it is necessary for personal protection.” He said any denial must be explained in detail and provided in writing, US News and World Report reported.
“Effectively, our bases across the country were gun-free zones,” Hegseth said. “Unless 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,” he said.
Hegseth also referenced a 2025 shooting at Fort Stewart in Georgia that left five soldiers injured. Officials said the suspect, an Army sergeant, used a personal handgun before being subdued and taken into custody.
“In these instances, minutes are a lifetime,” Hegseth said. “And our service members have the courage and training to make those precious, short minutes count,” he said.
Current Defense Department policy has prohibited most military personnel from carrying personal firearms on base without approval from a senior commander. The rules also require strict storage procedures when firearms are not in use.
Typically, service members must check weapons in and out of secure storage for approved activities such as hunting or range use. Outside of those situations, military police are generally the only personnel armed on base.
Tanya Schardt, senior counsel at the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, criticized the policy shift. She said military leaders have historically opposed loosening restrictions on personal firearms.
Schardt said most active-duty service members who die by suicide use personally owned weapons rather than military-issued firearms. She said the policy could lead to “an increase in gun suicide and other gun violence.”
“Our military installations are among the most guarded, protected properties in the world, and they’ve never been ‘gun-free zones,’” Schardt said. “If 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’s working to prevent that crime,” she said.
A Pentagon report released this week found that while fewer service members died by suicide in 2024, overall rates among active-duty troops have increased over time. Officials said the trend has risen gradually between 2011 and 2024.
Hegseth has warned that Iran has the ability to hit London with missiles, warning about the global threat coming from Tehran that should have more U.S.-allies concerned.
While speaking at a White House Cabinet meeting alongside President Donald Trump, Hegseth warned about two missiles that Iran fired at the joint UK-US military base on Diego Garcia.
Last Month, the Indian Ocean island, which is about 4,000 kilometers from Iran, was attacked.
The UK government confirmed that both missiles missed their targets, but this has made people even more worried about the threat Iran could pose to Britain itself. The Israeli military has previously claimed that Iranian missiles could achieve a range of around 4,000km, placing numerous countries across Europe, Asia, and Africa at risk.
