Fort Stewart soldiers tackled a gunman with their bare hands last August while he shot their colleagues.
Now Pete Hegseth just fixed the rule that made that necessary.
And what he did – and what Clinton's Pentagon did to create this disaster 34 years ago – will make your blood boil.
How Military Bases Became Gun-Free Zones Under Clinton in 1993
George H.W. Bush's Pentagon issued Department of Defense Directive 5210.56 in February 1992.
It stripped the right to carry personal firearms from every service member on base who wasn't law enforcement or on security duty.
Bill Clinton's administration locked it in further with Army Regulation 190-14 in March 1993.
The result: the most lethal, most skilled warriors on the planet – men and women we trust with M4s in Kandahar and Fallujah – were legally disarmed the moment they set foot on an American base.
They were treated like children.
And people died because of it.
A Decade of Military Base Shootings That Gun-Free Zone Rules Made Worse
In 2009, Army Major Nidal Hasan – a jihadist who had been emailing al-Qaeda's Anwar al-Awlaki for months – opened fire on unarmed soldiers at Fort Hood.
Thirteen Americans were killed.
Thirty-two more were wounded.
The soldiers who survived described what it was like to be combat-trained warriors who couldn't fight back.
In 2013, Aaron Alexis walked into the Washington Navy Yard and killed 12 unarmed personnel.
In 2014, Fort Hood happened again – four more dead.
In 2019, a Saudi national opened fire at Naval Air Station Pensacola and killed three sailors.
Then last August at Fort Stewart in Georgia, Sgt. Quornelius Radford pulled out his personal handgun and started shooting his own colleagues.
The soldiers nearby did the only thing they could do.
They ran at him with their bare hands.
One soldier tackled the gunman while he was still firing.
Another jumped on top to hold him down.
Army Secretary Dan Driscoll said afterward that their actions "absolutely saved lives."
Hegseth Fixed It
On Thursday, Pete Hegseth posted a video on X and signed the memo that ended this insanity.
The directive is simple: installation commanders must now presume approval when service members request to carry a privately owned firearm for personal protection on base.
If a commander denies the request, the denial must be in writing – with a detailed, specific justification.
Freedom is the default.
Restriction requires justification.
"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."
https://twitter.com/Arkadalo/status/2039806769648615572?s=20
He framed it exactly right: "Not all enemies are foreign, nor are they all outside our borders."
The Second Amendment Gap That Left Armed Soldiers Defenseless on Their Own Base
John Lott of the Crime Prevention Research Center noted the absurdity that existed for three decades: soldiers with concealed carry permits could legally carry a firearm off base to protect themselves and others in their communities – but the moment they drove through the front gate, they had to disarm.
The trained killers had to be defenseless at home.
The research on what this cost is damning.
In the Fort Hood, Navy Yard, Pensacola, Fort Stewart, and Holloman attacks alone – attacks at places controlled by the United States military – 24 people were murdered and 38 were wounded.
In each case, personnel hid or fought back with their hands while the attacker kept firing.
Lott's analysis points to another number that explains why this policy was always a failure: 93% of mass public shootings happen in places where guns are banned.
Attackers aren't stupid.
They choose targets where they know victims can't shoot back.
American military bases were advertising exactly that.
What This Means Going Forward
Hegseth didn't specify certification requirements or uniform rules across branches – those details will follow through commanders and installation-specific protocols.
What he did establish is the framework that matters: the burden of proof now rests on those who want to keep soldiers disarmed, not on the soldiers who want to exercise their constitutional right.
That's a complete reversal of a policy built on the premise that American warriors couldn't be trusted with their own weapons.
The Fort Stewart soldiers who tackled that gunman bare-handed were given medals for their bravery.
They deserved them.
But they shouldn't have needed them.
Sources:
- Alexandra Koch, "Pete Hegseth signs memo opening door for troops to carry personal firearms on bases," Fox News, April 2, 2026.
- "New Hegseth Order Lets Troops Carry Personal Firearms on Base," Military.com, April 2, 2026.
- John R. Lott Jr., "Why Military Bases Should Never Have Been Gun-Free Zones," RealClearPolitics, April 4, 2026.
- "Hegseth Signs Order Restoring Second Amendment Rights on Military Bases," The Gateway Pundit, April 2, 2026.
- "Hegseth Tears Up Controversial Military Base Rule After 34 Years," The Daily Wire, April 2, 2026.
- Priya Sridhar, Dan Gallo, and David K. Li, "6 unarmed soldiers praised for tackling and subduing Fort Stewart shooter," NBC News, August 7, 2025.