Sponsors (11)
The bill expands off-duty carry rights for service members and adds procedural transparency when authorizations are denied, trading increased individual carriage freedoms for heightened on-base safety risks, operational complications for security forces, and greater administrative and legal burdens on installation leadership.
Active-duty service members: increases the likelihood they may carry personally owned firearms off-duty on military installations by creating a presumption of authorization.
Service members denied off-duty carry authorization: will receive a written, individualized explanation, improving transparency and due process for personnel and federal employees on installations.
All personnel on installations (service members, civilian employees, visitors): expanding on-base carry raises the risk of accidental shootings and interpersonal firearm incidents.
Local military security and installation law-enforcement: more off-duty armed personnel on installations could complicate coordination, response protocols, and overall security operations.
Installation commanders and administrative staff: will face increased administrative burden and potential legal exposure from issuing more written denials and handling appeals or challenges.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Creates a presumption that off-duty service members may carry personal firearms on DoD installations and requires written, objective reasons for any denial.
Official title: To amend the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 to establish a rebuttable presumption in favor of authorizing a member of the Armed Forces to carry a personal firearm on a military installation.
Introduced May 7, 2026 by Jeff Crank · Last progress May 7, 2026
Amends DoD rules to create a presumption that service members may carry personally owned firearms on Department of Defense installations when they are not on duty, and requires any denial of that authorization to be written with an objective, individualized reason. The bill adds a rebuttable-presumption rule in favor of authorization and a written-denial requirement to the existing authorization process for carrying personal firearms on military installations.