House Adds Gun-Carry And Transgender Limits To Annual Defense Bill
On Tuesday, July 21, 2026, the House voted 215-214 to add to the annual defense bill an amendment creating a presumption that qualified service members and Pentagon civilians may carry personal firearms on military bases.[1] The amendment shifts the default toward approval when qualified personnel request permission, but it does not automatically authorize firearms and leaves final authority with installation commanders.
Lawmakers also approved Rep. Nancy Mace's amendment, 219-208, to bar TRICARE from covering transition-related hormones, puberty blockers and surgeries, and passed a second Mace amendment, 221-203, barring transgender girls from participating in girls' sports at Defense Department Education Activity schools. The House rejected Rep. Lauren Boebert's amendment to codify President Trump's 2025 executive order barring transgender troops, 217-212, and turned down an amendment to confine Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative funds to U.S. Embassy security in Kyiv. An amendment to bar foreign nationals from attending U.S. service academies failed 360-61, preserving long-running training programs for allied and partner officers, and members voted to eliminate a proposed Pentagon pilot program that would have used voice-based risk-assessment technology to select service members for drug testing.
An August 2025 shooting at Fort Stewart, Georgia, in which an Army sergeant allegedly used a personal handgun to wound five soldiers, intensified debate over base gun rules. The attack occurred despite a postwide ban on personal firearms. Rep. Nancy Mace's TRICARE amendment broadens prior Trump administration limits on transition-related care and writes those restrictions into law.
The narrow margins on several roll calls highlighted how contested changes to military policy, health coverage for military families, and access to bases remain as the defense bill moves through Congress.
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📌 Key Facts
- On Tuesday, July 21, 2026, the House voted 215-214 to adopt Rep. Jeff Crank's amendment creating a presumption that qualified service members and Pentagon civilians may carry personal firearms on bases, subject to commander approval.
- The Crank amendment does not automatically authorize firearms but shifts the default toward approval when qualified personnel request permission from installation commanders.
- The vote followed an August 2025 Fort Stewart shooting in which an Army sergeant allegedly used a personal handgun to wound five soldiers despite a post-wide ban on personal firearms.
- Lawmakers approved Rep. Nancy Mace's amendment 219-208 to bar TRICARE from covering transition-related hormones, puberty blockers and surgeries, broadening existing Trump administration limits and writing them into statute.
- A second Mace amendment passed 221-203, barring transgender girls from participating in girls' sports at Defense Department Education Activity schools serving military families.
- The House rejected Rep. Lauren Boebert's amendment to codify President Trump's 2025 executive order barring transgender troops, on a 217-212 vote, and turned down Rep. Eli Crane's amendment to confine Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative funds to U.S. Embassy security in Kyiv.
- Another amendment to bar foreign nationals from attending U.S. service academies failed 360-61, preserving long-running training programs for allied and partner officers.
- Members also voted to eliminate a proposed Pentagon pilot program that would have used voice-based risk-assessment technology to select service members for drug testing.
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