'No better group': Veteran says special ops should get same concealed carry permit as retired cops
A retired Army special operations veteran is urging Congress to give qualified former special operators nationwide concealed carry privileges enjoyed by retired U.S. law enforcement officers, arguing the elite troops are uniquely trained to protect themselves and Americans.
"It needs to happen," Gavin Glasenapp, who served 20 years and 12 combat deployments in the Army, told Fox News Digital on Monday.
The Special Operations Forces Concealed Carry Act was put forward last week by Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., months after a companion bill by the same name in the House was introduced in April by Rep. Pat Harrigan, R-N.C.
"These are proven men and women," Glasenapp, the training operations manager at Delta Defense for the U.S. Concealed Carry Association (USCCA) said, adding "they're specially selected, uniquely trained."
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"I can think of no better group of people to be equipped to defend themselves and others around them. In fact, that's part of our core values here at Delta Defense.
"We believe every American has the inalienable right to self-defense, and I can think of no better group that to really emulate that and really show you what that looks like."
More well-trained good guys with guns to stop the bad guys with guns will help America safe again, Second Amendment advocates argue.
Last month, President Donald Trump trolled his critics and gun-control advocates with a post that went viral: "Over 273 Americans have been shot since the war in Iran ... in Chicago."
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Chicago is among the Democrat-run cities with strict gun laws and, yet, a raging gun violence crisis every summer.
Notably, an armed bystander last week in Idaho, strapped by the shoulder with a FN Five-seveN semi-automatic pistol, was able to engage a mass shooter, forcing him to flee and saving countless lives, local police hailed. That bystander Jordan Salinas, had concealed carry training, and local police noted he followed "observe, orient, decide and act" (OODA) protocol as a good guy with a gun able to help stop a bad guy with one.
"That would be the OODA loop," Glasenapp said.
"That's kind of become almost a university taught system of being situationally aware. You know, observing a threat and making decisions as far as what your next steps are going to be. And the big thing with that OODA loop is it's just that: It's a loop. You should constantly be observing, orienting on things, deciding, acting, and then redoing it over and over again."
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Nationwide concealed carry reciprocity, making it lawfully easier to carry concealed state to state, has faced congressional obstruction from gun-control advocates, but expanding the Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act (LEOSA) to special ops veterans would allow more good guys with guns to stop bad guys with guns.
It also could be a baby step, ultimately, in gun-rights advocates' push for nationwide reciprocity.
The fact highly trained special operations veterans are not afforded the permissions to carry concealed firearms across state lines might be a surprise to some.
"[LEOSA] allows retired law enforcement officers to carry concealed throughout the country, which is very convenient, actually, because sometimes state laws as far as concealed carry or possessing weapons can be very different when you travel state to state," Glasenapp said.
"So, for example, if you're a retired law officer and you're on a cross-country road trip with your family, that definitely streamlines things a lot. You're not having to check things like a reciprocity app."
The most popular reciprocity app is the USCCA Concealed Carry app, which provides a live interactive permit reciprocity map, state gun laws, and permit management tools for all 50 states.
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A key distinction between the proposed Sheehy Senate bill and Harrigan's House version is annual certification requirements for special ops veterans.
"Our Special Operations Forces spend their careers protecting the American people with unmatched discipline, judgment, and professionalism," Sheehy wrote in a statement.
"This bill honors that reality by giving qualified special operators the same nationwide concealed carry privileges already afforded to retired law enforcement officers. Our elite warfighters never stop serving, and this bill ensures the law reflects the trust they’ve earned through a lifetime of sacrifice."
Sheehy's version requires yearly, state-standard, active-duty-level firearms qualification at the individual’s expense, plus completion of a Justice Department-certified "Concealed Carry Use of Force in Society" course before carrying.
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Harrigan's bill just expands the LEOSA standards to special ops veterans and calls for "no separate certification of firearms training is required for a qualified special operator."
"I don't believe the annual recertification requirement should be required for either the proposed special operations forces concealed carry act or the current HR 218/LEOSA," according to Glasenapp, who urges regular training regardless if required.
"Both of these communities have spent their professional careers training and qualifying with various handguns and other small arms."
The Senate bill defines a qualified special operator as a former member of the armed forces who went through a special operations assessment, was selected for qualification training and held a special warfare or special operations occupational specialty or skill designator recognized by U.S. Special Operations Command.
Glasenapp said the distinction matters because firearms proficiency is a fundamental and continually reinforced part of training for many of the operators the legislation is intended to cover.
An infantryman or infantry officer in the Army’s 75th Ranger Regiment, for example, would be "intimately familiar with small arms," including rifles and handguns, he said.
"There’s going to be continuing training on that," Glasenapp said, noting that firearms skills can deteriorate without practice.
Special operators have another advantage when it comes to navigating different rules: years of operating under changing restrictions in different jurisdictions and even different countries.
"These are folks that have not only dealt with changing state lines, but different rules and different regulations in different countries," Glasenapp said. "We’re talking international travel and dealing with rules of engagement that are constantly changing depending on what theater you’re in.
"They can definitely adapt on the fly."
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Glasenapp also rejected the notion that military experience alone means special operations veterans would treat civilian concealed carry like operating in a combat zone – a fear gun-control advocates have.
He said he held a Tennessee concealed carry permit himself while serving on active duty and stressed that carrying a firearm as a civilian comes with different legal responsibilities.
"What you’re doing as a civilian carrying every day … is going to be different than when you’re in a combat zone," said Glasenapp, who said he deployed 12 times during his military career.
"Get familiar with local, state and federal law as far as what you can and can’t do," he said. "You’ve got to make different decisions and act in different ways."
The veteran also said he would support broader nationwide concealed carry reciprocity, arguing that gun owners currently face a complicated patchwork of laws when traveling between states.
But, on the narrower proposal before Congress, Glasenapp said he believes special operators have already demonstrated the judgment and skills necessary to earn the expanded protection.
"I certainly hope this passes and becomes U.S. code," Glasenapp said.
"I think it needs to happen."