Concealed carry for all current service members (CAC holders)?

This should also apply to any veteran who was not dishonorably discharged.

Absolutely, unequivocally, no. I do believe in a citizen’s right to carry a concealed weapon, that there should be a national CCW permit, and that servicemembers should be able to carry a concealed weapon aboard military installations, as long as they have a valid permit for that state. However, I believe that there is some flawed logic in the argument that servicemembers should be able to carry a concealed weapon “out in town” with their CAC acting as a de facto national concealed carry permit.

People keep pointing out the “advanced” training and qualifications that service members have as justification for Concealed Carry permits. However, I sincerely doubt that the data actually supports this supposition. First and foremost, the vast majority of servicemembers do not require an active pistol qualification. The Marine Corps, for example, only requires annual pistol qualification for E7 and above (based on their T/O weapon; with exemptions), which represents a minority of the total force. Only requiring the possession of a CAC would mean granting a concealed carry permit to a person who may not be able to even demonstrate function and operation of a pistol. Furthermore, servicemembers who have previously passed initial and annual qualification courses still fail during subsequent qualifications. They do not get their CAC revoked simply for demonstrating a lack of proficiency with a firearm.

Secondly, qualification is not inherently the same thing as training, and should not be expected to substitute for it. While there is more to responsibly carrying a concealed weapon than being able to effectively put rounds on target, this is not inherently true of the standard required weapons qualifications. Qualification relies on the assumptions that you have a lawful target, and are given an order to engage. A concealed carry holder does not have the liberty to make these assumptions.

Finally, concealed carry legislation varies dramatically from state to state. It is the responsibility of a CCW holder to be familiar with the specifics and nuances of the legislation in their specific state. Instituting an automatic CCW policy without mandated training and compliance with state/local procedures is a recipe for disaster.

We are "professionals." I carry concealed while off post most of the time. It's an American right. I also believe that we should be able to carry on post with the correct training. We carry deployed, we shoot at the range, we carry knifes, we jump out of high performance aircraft, we are professionals. This shouldn't be an argument or a concern.

Yes, we should. After training on the use of force continuum, a service member in my opinion should be authorized to carry both on, or off of base and in or out of uniform.

Having seen countless service members handle and shoot firearms after a "significant" amount of training...I would not give a service member a free pass to carry concealed solely based on their active status.

I don't think having a CAC should be the ONLY prerequisite for concealed carry. You should be required to have Military Weapons Training with the appropriate Escalation of Force training before you could be allowed to carry. Be realistic, you have Band members and admin people who have only touched a weapon in basic training, if at all, only to be "qualified". You need more training than that.

I don't necessarily agree your cac card should be your license, even though majority of the country can obtain a ccw permit states like God damn new jersey hinder your rights. But I do think as a member of the military you should be allowed to carry upon completing the same training anyone else does for a ccw. just cause you've been trained how to carry and handle an m16 or m4 doesn't mean your equipped to properly conceal a weapon without printing or worse.

The first step is making it legal for service members to carry on base in the first place. Service members are most visible to would be attackers when going to and from base because they are highly visible being in uniform, and they're on a known route going into the base. This most vulnerable time is impossible to be protected during because it is illegal for us to have a gun in our cars or on our person when going on base.

Unfortunately there are just as many irresponsible service members as there are civilians. With that said I think that each soldier who wishes to carry should go through an evaluation or screening process to see if they would be a good candidate to carry a sidearm or concealed weapon under military sanction and approval

I 100% vote yes to this idea.

EDIT: Ok, after reading some of the responses I have to change my answer. I agree that some people should not have firearms without close supervision. What I would like to suggest instead is that a valid CAC should serve to "globalize" an existing CCL. Meaning, if you have a concealed carry permit from any state, your CAC should make it valid in any other state, to include states that have no provision for a permit.