Quote History Originally Posted By TigerForce:I forget what the history of allowing carrying on bases is. Hopefully someone here will fill us in. I do recall that after the massacre at Ft. Hood that there was some discussion about allowing officers to carry a sidearm, but that might have just been a host or caller on a talk radio show.
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The DoD instruction governing arming people was revised after the board convened in the wake of the Hasan shooting recommended it be revised. The revised instruction allows officers O-5 and above to give permission to carry concealed on base, in 6 month increments, but the number of officers at that rank (and higher) that are willing to take that much risk with their career are few and far between. Functionally things are no different now than they were in 2009. The number of people carrying concealed on base is so small they might as well not even not be there.
I got the training bug after my first class at Thunder Ranch in 2000, so for the next 14 years of my Naval career I was that guy taking personal leave time to attend gun schools on my own dime. It always rankled my ass that I was better trained than 99% of the sailors out there, but I was
forced to be disarmed by regulations written by risk averse admirals who thought of enlisted people with firearms with distaste.
I always thought it was ironic, that the
armed services are anything but.