DOD allows service members to carry personal weapons on Wright-Patterson

The Department of Defense is opening military bases to personnel carrying personal firearms, and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base will abide by that directive, a spokesman for the Air Force said Monday, April 6.

“The Air Force/Space Force will comply with the Secretary of War’s direction,” the spokesman said. “We don’t have any additional details to provide at this time.”

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth last week signed a memorandum directing base commanders to allow uniformed service members to request to carry privately owned firearms while in their “nonofficial duty capacity” on military property in the United States.

“Before today, it was virtually impossible … 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. … Well, that’s no longer,” Hegseth said in a video on the subject.

In 2020, the 88th Air Base Wing allowed base personnel to request approval to transport licensed firearms to and from Wright-Patterson.

The allowance was open to those who held a Federal Law Enforcement Officer Safety Act permit, an Ohio concealed carry permit, or another state’s concealed carry permit that had reciprocity with Ohio. Under those conditions, those personnel were authorized (on approval) to transport secured, privately owned firearms in their private vehicles.

But the firearms were not authorized to be removed from those vehicles and had to remain completely unloaded while stored in a locked container out of plain view.

Privately owned firearms had to be registered with the 88th Security Forces. A spokesman for the wing declined to offer additional details.

Military police officers are allowed to carry firearms.

Firearms allowed in ‘nonofficial duty capacity,’ per DOD.

WTF!

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