Brian Hill

FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. (Dec. 7, 2020) — The Fort Leonard Wood Directorate of Emergency Services reminds everyone entering Fort Leonard Wood that firearms must be unloaded and declared to access control point personnel.

“Although we have electronic signs at each (gate) reminding people … we have seen an uptick in the amount of folks we are finding violating these rules,” said DES Sgt. Maj. Cameron Regur.

As a reminder, all firearms:

— must be registered prior to bringing the weapon onto the installation. Newly arriving personnel have 24 hours to register weapons after signing for on-post housing or receiving their weapons from a household goods delivery.

— must have a valid weapons registration present when being transported on post.

— being transported through an access control point must be declared to the security guard. A gun case in plain sight on the back seat of a vehicle is not the same as declaring it to the guard.

— must be unloaded during transport, and the ammunition must be stored separately from the weapon while being transported.

— transported in a vehicle must be secured in the trunk. For vehicles without a trunk they need to be encased in a hard or soft container and separated in the vehicle in such a manner that they are not readily available or accessible to the driver or passengers. Firearms must not be encased and transported in the vehicle’s glove compartment.

Regur said Fort Leonard Wood does not recognize any state or federal concealed carry permit.

“No concealed weapons are allowed on Fort Leonard Wood at any time,” he said.

Civilian violators — to include contractors, military family members and retirees — can expect a mandatory appearance in Federal Magistrate Court, most often in Springfield, Missouri, Regur said.

“Service members subject to the Uniformed Code of Military Justice are charged with failing to obey a lawful order or regulation and referred to their chain of command for adjudication,” he added.

Regur said the upcoming holiday season is an especially important time to remind visitors to the installation about the weapons policies.

“Parents coming to pick up trainees for Holiday Block Leave need to know it’s a good idea to leave their firearms locked up safely at home before traveling to Fort Leonard Wood,” he said.

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About Fort Leonard Wood

Fort Leonard Wood is a thriving and prosperous installation that has evolved from a small basic training post more than 75 years ago to a premier Army Center of Excellence that trains more than 80,000 military and civilians each year.

Fort Leonard Wood is home to the U.S Army Maneuver Support Center of Excellence and three U.S. Army schools: the U.S. Army Engineer School; U.S. Army Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear School; and the U.S. Army Military Police School. In addition to training engineer, CBRN and military police specialties for the Army, Fort Leonard Wood also provides gender-integrated in-processing and Basic Combat Training for new Soldiers.

Fort Leonard Wood also hosts and trains with the largest Marine Corps Detachment and Air Force Squadron on any Army installation as well as a large Navy construction detachment.

More information about Fort Leonard Wood is at: https://home.army.mil/wood/index.php/about/mission