Well, howdy there, internet people it spell again. So today, we're going to talk about

Hexeth wanting guns on military bases. We have a huge Chesterton's fence moment in the making.

Secretary of Defense Hexseth has decided to allow soldiers to carry private weapons while on base.

A quick reminder.

The idea behind Chesterton's fence is that you shouldn't take a fence down unless you know why it was put up.

In a social media post, Hegeseth said, quote, the memo I'm signing today directs

installation commanders to allow requests for personal protection to carry a privately owned firearm,

with the presumption that it is necessary for personal protection.

The presumption means that commanders have to have a good reason to deny the request.

He added, quote,

If a request is for some reason denied,

the reason for that denial will be in writing and will explain in detail the basis for that.

He of course added that troops have the presumption of exercising their Second Amendment rights on base.

At first, the idea of letting soldiers possess a private firearm seems like it would be normal. So you have to ask why there's been a long-standing policy against it.

Carrying private firearms has been banned on military installations since President George

H.W. Bush issued the directive in the early 1990s.

Even prior to that, there were a lot of regulations that varied from branch to branch and base to base.

But there were some widespread prohibitions, like not allowing soldiers in the barracks to have a firearm in their room.

Why? Because the barracks can be an unruly place, and younger soldiers make mistakes.

I'm going to drop a link to what amounts to a Marine Corps after-school special below.

It details that E1 to E3 can have no more than a six-pack in their

room. E-4 to E-5s can have no more than a 12-pack. If you have to have regulations

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