The End of an Absurdity
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth just signed one of the most consequential Second Amendment policy changes in a generation. His memorandum directs every military installation commander in the United States to allow off-duty service members to request permission to carry privately owned firearms on base, with a presumption that the request will be approved. If a commander says no, the denial must be in writing with a detailed explanation. The default answer is now yes.
For decades, American military bases functioned as gun-free zones. Unless you were training on a range or wearing a military police badge, your personal firearm stayed off post. The people we trust to operate tanks, fighter jets, and nuclear submarines could not carry a pistol to protect themselves while grabbing lunch at the PX. That policy was not merely illogical. It was dangerous, and the body count proves it.
Lessons Written in Blood
Hegseth pointed to three incidents that illustrate the cost of forced disarmament: the August 2025 shooting at Fort Stewart in Georgia, the March 2026 shooting at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico, and the December 2019 terrorist attack at Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida. In each case, the attacker chose a location where trained military personnel were effectively defenseless.
This is not a coincidence. As Dr. John Lott has documented extensively, mass shooters overwhelmingly select gun-free zones precisely because they guarantee a concentration of unarmed victims. The logic is grim but simple: if you want to maximize casualties, you go where no one can shoot back. It does not take a PhD in rocket science to figure that out.
That our own military installations ranked among the softest targets in the country was a policy failure of staggering proportions. Hegseth’s memorandum corrects it.
The Legal Foundation
The authority for this move is not new. Section 526 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 already authorized the Secretary of Defense to permit armed forces members assigned to an installation to carry an appropriate firearm if the commander determines it necessary for personal or force protection. That statute has been on the books for a decade, gathering dust. It took the Trump administration and Secretary Hegseth to actually use it.
The new policy goes further than bare authorization. By establishing a presumption of approval, it shifts the burden. The service member no longer has to prove why carrying is necessary. The commander has to prove why it is not. That inversion is critical. It mirrors the constitutional structure of the Second Amendment itself: the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed, and any restriction must be justified, not the other way around.
A Whole-of-Government Push
This memorandum does not exist in a vacuum. The Trump administration is advancing Second Amendment rights across multiple federal agencies simultaneously. At the Department of Justice, Harmeet Dhillon’s Civil Rights Division has established a dedicated Second Amendment section that is filing amicus briefs and launching affirmative lawsuits against state-level gun control, including challenges to assault weapon bans and large-capacity magazine bans. The United States Postal Service has separately moved to permit the mailing of certain firearms, reversing longstanding restrictions. Now the Department of Defense joins the effort.
That kind of coordinated, multi-agency approach matters. It signals that the right to keep and bear arms is not a niche concern to be handled by one office at DOJ. It is a government-wide constitutional priority.
The Overton Window Keeps Moving
Consider the trajectory. When many of us were growing up, Vermont was the only permitless carry state in the country. Today, 29 states have adopted permitless carry, with North Carolina potentially becoming the 30th. The federal government is dismantling gun-free zones on military property. The DOJ is suing states over unconstitutional firearms restrictions. The trend line is unmistakable.
None of this means the fight is over. A handful of Democrat-controlled states, including California, New York, New Jersey, and Hawaii, continue their assault on gun rights. The anti-gun lobby remains laser-focused on those jurisdictions. But the national momentum is overwhelmingly in our favor, and Secretary Hegseth’s memorandum is one more powerful data point.
Elections matter. Personnel is policy. And today, the policy is that America’s warriors get their Second Amendment rights back on base.
This article is based on analysis by Mark W. Smith on The Four Boxes Diner. Watch the original video. This does not constitute legal advice.