HONOLULU (Island News) — A new policy from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is prompting questions across military communities in Hawaiʻi, after a directive that could allow service members to carry personal firearms on base under certain conditions.
The April 2 memo from the United States Department of Defense instructs installation commanders to presume approval for service members requesting to carry privately owned firearms for personal protection, but only while in a non-official duty capacity.
In a video announcing the change, Hegseth said, “the presumption is service members will be able to have their Second Amendment right on post.”
The move marks a shift from long-standing restrictions, where personal firearms were typically not allowed to be carried on base and were often required to be registered and stored under strict rules…