Private gun ownership if you are in the military?

[TheOtherOne]

I'm guessing there is a limit of about 5 or 10 personal firearms that you can take to bootcamp with you but what about after bootcamp?

Okay, so you probably can't even bring a pocket knife but I am wondering what the rules are after. If you are single, then they are just going to throw you on base with a bunch of roommates somewhere and that means there will be all kinds of stupid rules but if by some chance you can have your own pistol, how do you get it? Is it okay to have parents/friends back home ship some guns out to you? Or what if you are stationed in California but you aren't a Cali resident, does Military ID let you buy a gun?

 

[Kodiak AK]

No guns in boot . End of discusion . After that if you are barrecks bound , all firearms must be locked in the armory.Cali has a little known law that lets Active duty aply for permits for most stuff . Do a search on AR15.com when they come back on line .

 

[priv8ter]

Hah!

You're lucky if they let you keep your own underwear when you get to boot-camp, let alone a pocket knife. Back when I did it, they even make you mail home the clothes you wear on the way there.

If you are in the barracks, like Kodiak said, you will be out of luck. You will be able to keep your guns on the base, but they will be locked up far away from you.

If you happen to get married, and live in base housing...same thing. You will not get to keep your guns with you.

But...why would you need guns? The front gates are guarded by Johnson Controls Rent-a-Cops that are making $10 an hour...you are plenty safe on base.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

greg

 

[cannonfa]

Depends on the post. I was at Fort Sill as a young LT and we had lock boxes in our BOQ rooms where we kept our privately owned weapons.

The active duty ID worked well over in Duncan too.

 

[priv8ter]

AH HA!

Well, here is your problem:

lock boxes in our BOQ rooms

See...you were an officer. Back in my days in the barracks in Groton, Ct, we had no such things as lock boxes.

But, I wasn't an officer. I was Blue-Shirt Scum: Devious, Cunning and Not to be Trusted.

greg

 

[Lancel]

Yes, you can have privately owned weapons in the Army (after basic training); they are normally stored as follows:

If you live in Barracks >> you store in Arms Room
If you live in Post Housing >> you store in Home
If you live off-post >> you store wherever it's secure

You always have the option of storing it in the arms room (with commander's permission).

Note that the Army is so big that (1) all things are possible and (2) there are exceptions to all things.

From the time I was a private until I retired, I always had personal weapons. If you go overseas, you need to have orders amended to authorize it. It may not be feasible in some countries now.

Larry

 

[rms/pa]

enlisted swine here . but i had the keys to the armory (evil grin)
all commands had me keep my commander in the armory. or base cop shop.
i would get a 24/7 access chit if i did not actually have the keys to the small arms locker.

my last ship (dd964) a spruance class destroyer had 8 riot guns,24 m14s 2 sniper versions of the m14, 4 m60's ,2 grenade launcher attachments for m14 ,15 cases of various grenades, more than 20 cases of 7.62. we later added two 50 cals. also 48 45 pistols. there were about 12 personal firearms of various types onboard too. we also had active and passive infared sights for 4 rifles.

too bad there were only 6 people onboard who knew anything about small arms.

rms/pa

 

[Hkmp5sd]

Back in my days in the barracks in Groton, Ct, we had no such things as lock boxes.

I somehow managed to get permission to make and keep black powder firearms in the barracks while at Groton. In fact, they even sold them at the base exchange.

 

[Dannyboy]

It depends a lot on the post and your CO. I was a single NCO living in the barracks and my Battery Commander let me keep my guns at my driver's house off-post. But if you want to use the post range then they have to be registered with the Provost Marshall's Office.


cannonfa,

How often did you visit Murf's Guns over in Duncan?

 

[cannonfa]

Thanks, I couldn't remember the name of the place. I was there enough to burn a large part of a TDY check


Spent most Saturdays on the personal weapons range. Fort Sill was a great time.


There is supposedly a personal weapons range at Ft. Riley, but I've yet to see it open in the last 19 years

 

[Andrew P]

I am an FA guy here too. Spent few years at Sill. I had guns in my home on post. No problems whatsoever.

 

[Lancel]

Dannyboy & FA folks,

Yep, Murf's Guns was well worth the 30 minute drive. They aimed to please.
I invested a lot in that store, hope it's still doing well.

Larry

 

[MatthewVanitas]

I find it most amusing that a) so many cannon-cockers hopped on the thread, b) every one of them starts talking about Duncan.

Just for the sake of continuity, I'll add that at least as recently as 2002, Duncan was the destination of choice for FAOBC (Field Arty Officers' Basic Course) Lts with pay to kill. Murfs is great, but Danny's (over by the railroad tracks in Duncan) has more used gear at decent prices. The large range on the south side of OKC (by WhiteWater) is also popular. All you can buy in Lawton is Bryco at inflated prices.

It seems that at most bases these days, it's not a problem to keep guns in the base housing as long as they're registered with the MPs. This issue came up when PMO came by to do the yearly "domestic violence" lecture:

MP: "The first thing we do on a Domestic Violence call is check the records to see if there are any firearms in the house. Then when we get to the house, we ask if there are any firearms there... Part of the problem we have is that some people own non-registered firearms in base housing. This is mostly a problem with male civillians married to female Marines. They give us this attitude about 'ain't nobody making me register my guns', and it just makes things harder for everybody."

 

[entropy]

I kept my POW's (personally owned weapons, not prisoners of war ) in the Unit Arms Room. But then, I was the Armorer, so it wasn't a real hassle for me! For the other guys living in the barracks, it was a little harder, but as long as they let me know in advance when they were going to take them out, I could acommadate them. (I usually went with to shoot, too!)
Those lucky enough to get on-post or off-post housing didn't have to worry about such things, and a few barracks rats kept thiers at a friend's house.

 

[Sunray]

"...I'm guessing there is a limit of about 5 or 10 personal firearms that you can take..." WHAT? You take nothing you're not told to take to Basic. Starting with no firearms. As in none whatsoever. Whatever gave you the idea that you could take personal firearms to "boot camp"?
A Military ID only proves you are in the Military. Nothing else.

 

[cannonfa]

"All you can buy in Lawton is Bryco at inflated prices."

I thought Lawton was a pit. Tried to stay out of it as much as possible in FAOBC, but the FA Officer Advanced Course was four days longer than TDY so I had to live off post.

 

[Andrew P]

I am FA but not a cannon cocker(rocket jockey). I was out there last summer going to school. I am currently doing hard time in USAREC, I got one yr left on my sentence then hopefully I will get a work release and get sent to Korea for another yr, then back to Stewart. Your right about Lawton though lots of over priced crap. I bought several nice shotguns from Murfs over the yrs's I was stationed there. Oklahoma was a bird hunter paradise.

 

[TheOtherOne]

Okay, so you'll probably be able to have your own gun but just nowhere near you unless you are lucky enough to be living off-post. What are the chances they let single people live off base?

And it sounds like buying guns is really going to depend on what state/country you are in and the local laws they have.

 

[SRYnidan]

As an USAF retiree and a former FFL holder here are a few notes.
Your military ID does get you somewhere when buying a gun in your state of assignment but you must also show that you are permanently assigned (not just TDY) so you need to produce a copy of your PCS orders (this is the best way although some dealers will accept other proof).
In 40 years (20 active and 20 more as a dependent) the guns were always stored in my or my fathers quarters except for the year I spent in Scicily.
Remember that this was the Air Force andy YMMV.

 

[HankB]

The military doesn't want its personnel to have GUNS - they're DANGEROUS!

Things must be a LOT different now than the way my father described them in WWII . . .

The last time I visited a military base, I noticed the sentry at the gate had a holstered 1911 . . . and when he turned his back to me momentarily, the empty magazine well was painfully obvious . . . what a well-guarded facility.

 

[priv8ter]

Depends

What are the chances they let single people live off base?

There are many variables in this question. I can only speak from my experience as a Navy Submariner.

Currently, the Navy won't pay for you to live off base(give you Basic Allowance for Housing) unless you are at least an E-5(if you are single) or if you are married.

Not sure about the other services.

greg

 

[fix]

HankB,

As much as it makes me want to vomit, my experience taught me that the military, while certainly not a haven for antis...is a gun control paradise. The implications are frightening. Military folks are conditioned to accept certain restrictions on their freedoms, although most do not accept them in principle. I fear that one day we as a total society may be faced with the reality that the military deals with daily. IMO the military is an excellent example of what happens when the government is given unchecked authority. While much of it is necessary to promote good order and discipline in the armed services, the overall theme is one that I'm sure Uncle Sugar would absolutely love to apply to society as a whole. For the time being, most military members are fully aware that they have willingly made certain sacrifices in terms of civil liberties as part of the price of serving. I fear that in the future many veterans may not be so aware of the true purpose of those restrictions and enter society with the opinion that such infringement on liberty is perfectly acceptable. At that point, we may have seen the beginning of the end.

 

[Redlg155]

Another one here that wen't to Murfs a lot.

As for the military, everything is hunky dory as long as you are in CONUS. Go out of the country and you are at the mercy of the Brigade/Post commander. Where I was stationed in Germany (Husterhof Kaserne, Pirmasens) all soldiers below the rank of SSG were required to store their weapons in the arms room.

As for in country everything was fine in post housing. You just had to make sure you registered your weapons with the MPs.

Good Shooting
Red

 

[roo_ster]

What Redlg155 said.

You can almost be certain that, as a single enlisted man, you won't have ready access to your weapon (either POW or issued).

 

[TheOtherOne]

The last time I visited a military base, I noticed the sentry at the gate had a holstered 1911 . . . and when he turned his back to me momentarily, the empty magazine well was painfully obvious . . . what a well-guarded facility

My dad was in the Korean war. I'm not sure exactly what he did over there but it involved driving a jeep around and while he had a tommy gun the whole time, he said the ONLY time he ever had ammo for it was once when he had to go pick up the payroll. He had to check the ammo back in as soon as he was done.