By Major Van Harl USAF Ret
Wisconsin –-(Ammoland.com)- Colonel Smith, Sergeant Major Jones do you have your conceal carry permit that Federal law allows you to obtain as a retired military police man?
You don’t, I do not understand, Federal law known as the Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act (LEOSA) and commonly referred to as HR 218 was enacted in 2004.
This act allows police officers in any state or jurisdiction to carry concealed their personal firearm in any other state or jurisdiction.
I know, the military uses the word apprehend, and the civilian law enforcement community uses the word arrest. This little play on words is what the Department of Defense/DoD had used to deny military police of all branches of the service the ability to carry a personal concealed weapon.
But the Federal law was amended in 2013 to specifically cover any obfuscating that the DoD was doing to prevent you, the active duty or retired military police person from legally carrying a concealed weapon off duty.
There is something both military members and the civilian world needs to understand: the DoD and its branches do not really, deep down in their hearts trust the average Airman, Sailor, Soldier or Marine.
When it comes to the carrying of a firearm that does not belong to the DoD and cannot be controlled with their many regulations and threats of punishment, senior civilian and active duty leadership just seem to fail to remember there is a 2nd amendment.
As soon as the 2013 changes to HR 218 were enacted, that made it crystal clear to the DoD is was time to quit stalling and start issuing the by-Federal-law requirement for law enforcement credentials / IDs to active duty military police of all branches and former military police with ten years of service, they (the DoD) started obfuscating yet again.
The State of Wisconsin figured out the very same month it was enacted in 2013 that it was clear, a former Federal law enforcement member of the military police type, was by-law entitled to credentials that addressed this law enforcement status. Wisconsin then made available per Federal direction the type and design of a LEOSA / HR 218 qualification certification (conceal carry permit) and started issuing them to former Federal law enforcement.
I recently received my renewal Wisconsin Certification Card.
I am going into my second year of having this former Federal law enforcement HR 218 ID card, but my big Air Force cannot seem to make their conceal carry ID program work. I have seen a number of drafts and even an alleged signed Air Force Instruction/ AFI on how the Security Forces (read AF cops) who have been tasked to oversee the implementation of HR 218 within the Air Force, are trying “ever so hard” to comply with Federal Law.
The last I heard was the Air Force is now looking for a contractor to take on the project of creating an AF acceptable HR 218 ID card that will meet the Federal requirements and still allow the Air Force to control their distrusted “cops”. In the drafts that I have seen the Air Force has supplanted Federal law and added a bunch of controlling factors. Some of the limitations and controls that my Air Force has put (wrongfully I would suggest) on their policemen in their efforts to obtain an AF / HR 218 conceal carry ID would imply that we have a large group of AF “cops” who are not qualified to function as a police man or woman on active duty.
If a person has been vetted to join a branch of the military, selected to be a police / law enforcement member, trained at a military police academy, qualified on the range in numerous firearms (both handgun and long gun) and posted out to do armed police work on a military reservation, just what is the problem with the DoD following Federal law when it comes to HR 218?
I will tell you what the problem is, it is the trust issue on the part of senior leadership.
Of course their real concern is with loss of some very tight (dare I say strangle hold) controls on military members in their off duty pursuits. The DoD could have taken the standard ID cards that are issued to military members and with a very few modifications added the required verbiage about law enforcement and HR 218 and been issuing these credentials to its military police members over a year ago.
But no, obfuscation continues to get in the way. My research only pertains to the Air Force and I do not know what the other branches of service are doing. I have read where it was suggested they are waiting to follow the AF lead.
If this is the case, Soldiers, Sailors and Marines I suggest you will have an even longer wait than AF “cops”. The DoD does not trump Federal law. What is so hard about this?
Might I suggest it is just the fear of the legally armed solider/citizen by the ruling class? In all honesty why shouldn’t any serving military member, active or reserve be entitled to carry concealed at any time—they are already vetted as defenders of our Nation? And then there is the issue of constitutional carry.
Major Van Harl USAF Ret./[email protected]
About Major Van Harl USAF Ret:
Major Van E. Harl USAF Ret., a career Police Officer in the U.S. Air Force was born in Burlington, Iowa, USA, in 1955. He was the Deputy Chief of police at two Air Force Bases and the Commander of Law Enforcement Operations at another. He is a graduate of the U.S. Army Infantry School. A retired Colorado Ranger and currently is an Auxiliary Police Officer with the Cudahy PD in Milwaukee County, WI. His efforts now are directed at church campus safely and security training. He believes “evil hates organization.” [email protected]
In Calif, I retired at 30 years in, as a unit CO. I was responsible for everything, including personnel and the arms locker. One day I was responsible for everything, the next, I could not be trusted with anything but guns on CAs good boy list. I was not LE, but personally, it felt like a slap in the face.
Gunnychuck, I agree with you completely. As a retired LEO I am a rarity in that particular part of the world. Even when I was active, it was my opinion that, when off duty, a LEO was not any different or had any more rights or privileges than any John Doe on the street. The great misfortune in this country is that there are too many individuals who are elitist.
My question is why are Police considered to be a better class of person than the rest of us? Why should we have laws that only allow Police special privileges that the rest of us are denied? Constitutional carry should be the law of the land, not just a benefit for a precious few. Unfortuneatly I live in California where a LE officer can buy a Desert Eagle .50 (not that I want one) but the rest of us poor schlubs cannot. THAT is not a duty gun.
I agree with all that you say, Major, but I do have a few questions: Can you quote me the exact section(s) of law that authorize retired military personnel who were qualified as Air Force Security Police/Security Forces to qualify under this law? During my 2-decade-long Air Force career, I was CONTINUOUSLY QUALIFIED as an S.P. as an additional duty, and the multiple/secondary AFSC is annotated on my DD214. What is your opinion about that? And yes, I was weapons qualified on several different arms, to include the M-16, M-1 Garand, S&W M15, Beretta M9, 1911A1 .45ACP, and 12 gauge… Read more »
Only Slaves need Permission from their Gov to exercise a right.
Stop asking permission
Stop being Nice and Law Abiding
Stop being sheep
I was an MP for ten years. I then went to work as an LEO for the Department of Justice. Later I switched to an LE agency within the Department of Treasury. I ended up retiring from CBP. All were LE positions. Some of us have no problem with the credentials. The problem is qualification. The CBP lets agents keep your original issue credentials when retiring. They just stamp retired on them. These credentials state right on them, among other things that the holder has the power to make arrests, enforce laws and be armed. However we can not find… Read more »