Army Secretary Dan Driscoll speaks during a panel discussion in Washington, D.C., Oct. 14, 2025. Two dozen Republican members of Congress have written to Driscoll urging him to direct the Army Corps of Engineers to finalize a rule allowing firearms, consistent with state laws, across the agency’s 11 million-plus acres. (Nathaniel Garrett/U.S. Army)
Two dozen House Republicans are urging the military to let Americans bring their guns onto the millions of acres of recreation areas at lakes and wetland areas that an Army agency manages.
In a letter Tuesday, the group of lawmakers called on Army Secretary Dan Driscoll to direct the Army Corps of Engineers to immediately put into force rules proposed in 2020 that would remove restrictions on firearms carry on those public lands.
The change would leave it to state laws to govern their exercise of Second Amendment rights in those areas.
The Corps of Engineers is responsible for environmental preservation and restoration at the nation’s water resource development projects.
With more than 400 lake and river projects in 43 states, it is also among the leading federal outdoor recreation providers, according to Recreation.gov, which allows the public to book reservations at public lands managed by any of 14 federal agencies.
Most of the other agencies have amended their rules to align with state gun laws in recent years, but the Corps has not, leaving it an outlier, according to the group of lawmakers, led by Rep. Pat Fallon of Texas.
Army Secretary Dan Driscoll tours a site in Powidz, Poland, Apr. 11, 2025. Some Republican lawmakers are calling on Driscoll to act immediately to implement a rule change permitting firearms on the over 11 million acres of land managed by the Army Corps of Engineers. (Charlie Duke/U.S. Army)
The rules mismatch has caused concern for gun owners, who they said may cross an “invisible federal line” while enjoying the great outdoors.
“Public lands in the United States form a complex, web-like environment, often spanning multiple agencies and jurisdictions, and without clear boundaries,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter, which was first reported by The Daily Caller.
“Hikers on trails like the Appalachian Trail, boaters on shared waterways, or campers near federal borders frequently cross multiple times from one agency’s domain to another, unbeknownst to them.”
The Corps “is the only major federal land management agency that still maintains a general prohibition on the lawful carry of firearms,” they added.
Army Secretary Dan Driscoll listens during a meeting with the Army, Mar. 20, 2025. A group of two dozen Republican members of Congress is urging Driscoll to direct the Army Corps of Engineers to immediately finalize a rule change that would allow Americans to carry firearms, in accordance with state laws, on the more than 11 million acres that the Corps manages. (Nicholas J. De La Pena/U.S. Army)
The agency’s rules require prior written approval to carry any weapon at a Corps project unless it’s used for hunting or fishing or at an authorized shooting range, the agency said six years ago.
At the time, it proposed doing away with that requirement. The Corps, which manages more than 11.7 million acres nationwide, estimated it got some 300 letters each year requesting the required written permission.
The proposed change to the rules during President Donald Trump’s first administration garnered more than 8,300 public comments on Regulations.gov, over half of which supported relaxation of the gun rules, according to a Stars and Stripes analysis.
Many cited self-defense concerns, including one who wrote that they often wonder how long it would take police to respond “should something happen” while on one of their frequent overnight stays on a boat in Lake Sidney Lanier, a sprawling reservoir in Georgia’s Blue Ridge Mountains that’s among the most popular sites owned by the Army Corps of Engineers.
The Corps’ recreation areas include about 95,000 campsites, 7,800 miles of trails and 3,700 boat launches, according to its website.
The rule change the agency proposed in 2020 was stymied by a regulatory freeze and a shift in priorities under former President Joe Biden, the lawmakers said in their letter.
They requested an update from Driscoll on the status of the proposal and asked whether aligning the Corps’ gun rules with those of other federal land management agencies remained a priority.
