Title 10 — Armed ForcesRelease 119-73

§2789 Individual equipment: unauthorized disposition

Title 10 › Subtitle Subtitle A— - General Military Law › Part PART IV— - SERVICE, SUPPLY, AND PROPERTY › Chapter CHAPTER 165— - ACCOUNTABILITY AND RESPONSIBILITY › § 2789

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

It forbids a service member from giving, selling, lending, pledging, trading, or gifting any clothing, weapons, or equipment the United States issued to anyone except another service member or a U.S. officer who is allowed to have it. If such U.S. property is found with someone else, that person has no legal right to it and any U.S. civil or military officer may take it. Having that gear is treated as proof it was improperly transferred. An officer who cannot keep seized items must give them to someone who can.

Full Legal Text

Title 10, §2789

Armed Forces — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)No member of the armed forces may sell, lend, pledge, barter, or give any clothing, arms, or equipment furnished to such member by the United States to any person other than a member of the armed forces or an officer of the United States who is authorized to receive it.

(b)If a member of the armed forces has disposed of property in violation of subsection (a) and the property is in the possession of a person who is neither a member of the armed forces nor an officer of the United States who is authorized to receive it, that person has no right to or interest in the property, and any civil or military officer of the United States may seize the property, wherever found, subject to applicable regulations. Possession of such property furnished by the United States to a member of the armed forces by a person who is neither a member of the armed forces, nor an officer of the United States, is prima facie evidence that the property has been disposed of in violation of subsection (a).

(c)If an officer who seizes property under subsection (b) is not authorized to retain it for the United States, the officer shall deliver the property to a person who is authorized to retain it.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

10 U.S.C. § 2789

Title 10 — Armed Forces

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73