By Samson Williams, Anthropologist-in-Residence, MWE
The first thing you need to know about humanity is that we never go anywhere unarmed. Not across oceans. Not across deserts. Not across the infinite blackness of space.
There will be guns on the Moon. There will be guns on Mars. That's not a question of if — that's a certainty. The real question is: what should the laws around them be? Because if we don't think this through now, we’ll end up carrying our oldest mistakes to the newest frontiers. And trust me, Mars doesn't care about your Constitution, and the Moon won't stop to read your manifestos before it kills you.
First, we must acknowledge reality: guns will serve a dual purpose off-Earth. They will be needed for defense against biological threats, including rogue humans, and for protection against environmental threats...think security against sabotage, containment breaches, or even hostile wildlife if and when we terraform. In a settlement where a puncture to a pressure dome could kill hundreds...where a stray bullet could mean the loss of the only oxygen supply...guns are not just weapons. They are political tools. They are environmental hazards. They are existential triggers.
Thus, gun ownership in lunar and Martian settlements can't simply be a matter of "personal right" the way it is on Earth. It must be a matter of communal survival. And survival, in environments as harsh as the Moon and Mars, will always, always, come before individual liberty.
What the Laws Should Be
First, weapons should not be privately owned. Instead, they must be issued and monitored like firefighting equipment — tools of last resort, overseen by the community or mission authority. Settlers could be licensed to use them after extensive training, but no one "owns" a gun. No gun in your locker. No gun tucked under your cot. Weapons should be checked out like oxygen tanks or medical supplies: registered, signed for, and returned. The reason is simple: accidents are not just accidents when you're living inside a tin can on the Moon. One bullet can depressurize a habitat module. One negligent discharge can doom a colony. Freedom to bear arms cannot trump freedom to breathe.
Second, mandatory training and certification must be enforced. Every settler must be trained — and not just a half-day "here’s how you shoot" class. I’m talking military-grade, scenario-based training. Settlers must know how to fire in zero-G, how to manage ballistics in confined environments, and how to de-escalate conflicts without drawing a weapon. Certifications should be renewed yearly. Fail the test? You lose access to weapons. On Earth, ignorance is dangerous. In space, ignorance is a death sentence.
Third, we must design weapons specifically for space environments. Standard ballistic firearms will probably be obsolete. Settlements will need specially engineered non-penetrative weapons, such as:
- Electromagnetic pulse guns to disable electronics;
- Gel-based projectiles that can incapacitate without breaching hull integrity;
- Low-velocity, fragment-resistant rounds designed for safety in confined ecosystems.
The Wild West six-shooter is a death machine on the Moon. We will need technology tailored for conflict where killing your enemy might mean killing yourself, too.
Fourth, conflict resolution must come first, force must come last. Mars will not survive a "shoot first" mentality. In short, there is no Standing Your Ground in microgravity. Any settler drawing a weapon must have already exhausted every non-lethal measure. Arguments aren't settled with duels; they’re settled with governance — councils, mediators, protocols. Space habitation won't work unless we evolve past the Run-Hide-Fight, adolescent instinct to reach for the trigger at the first sign of conflict.
Finally, strict consequences must be the standard. Anyone who misuses a weapon...brandishing it, firing it negligently, or using it outside authorized circumstances... must face immediate exile or a long walk out of the nearest airlock. No appeals. No delays. Misuse of a firearm is not a personal problem in a settlement; it's an attempted mass murder. The stakes are simply too high.
Why This Matters
The deeper reason we need these laws is because space settlements are not about replicating Earth. They are about starting over. On Earth, guns are symbols of independence, self-reliance, and sometimes, fear. In space, guns must be tools of service, discipline, and survival — or else they will be the instruments of our extinction.
If we can't control ourselves — if we (mainly American culture and psyche) can't evolve the way we govern violence — then we have no business trying to terraform other worlds. We will not be pioneers. We will be parasites. And eventually, the vacuum will win.
The beauty of space is that it gives humanity a second chance. Not just to plant flags, but to decide what kind of people we want to be when no one else is looking. Do we take the worst parts of ourselves — our fear, our rage, our thirst for dominance — and cast them like seeds onto the regolith of Luna? Or do we carry forward our capacity for discipline, compassion, and collective survival?
The guns will come with us. That's inevitable. What we do with them... that is still unwritten. And we should write it with the gravity of those who know that once the first shot is fired beyond Earth, there’s no calling it back. Only consequences.
Samson