Domestic Abusers in Military to Lose Their Weapons

Many men and women in the military are being told they must turn in their weapons to comply with a law prohibiting gun ownership by people convicted of domestic abuse.

The Pentagon issued an interim policy Wednesday in line with a federal law passed more than a year ago.

Since carrying a weapon is essential to many jobs in the military, requiring such a step might mean that those service members affected will have to take desk jobs.

To find out, all of the military’s 1.4 million men and women are being required to fill out a form asking whether they have been convicted of such an offense. If they are not truthful, they could be prosecuted and thrown out of the service, officials said.

Frank Rush, a deputy assistant secretary, said the Pentagon expects the number of people affected “would be low,” perhaps in the hundreds. Most who enter the military are “young, unmarried and unlikely to bring such a conviction with them,” he said. However, a senior officer speaking privately said the number could be in the thousands.

One of the authors of the measure, Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-N.J.), criticized the Pentagon for being slow to act and for taking so long to find out how many people in the military might be abusers.

Rush, at a briefing, said there would be no exemption for people who are in potential combat zones, such as Bosnia, but that he did not expect the new policy to “adversely impact military readiness.”

Anyone convicted of the misdemeanor crime will have their weapons and ammunition taken away immediately, he said.

Anyone convicted after Sept. 30, 1996, could be subject to discharge or other punishment from his or her commander. If the conviction was before that date, which marks passage of the law, their guns will be taken away.

But those people will be allowed to appeal the older convictions or even apply for a pardon, officials said.

Since tanks, crew-served aircraft and other major weapons systems are not considered firearms, those who work on them are not affected by the law.