The VA recently reversed a 30-year policy to flag veterans for inclusion in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, when they required a fiduciary. But Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill., chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, introduced legislation for a ‘permanent fix’ to stop future administrations from renewing the practice. (Stars and Stripes)
WASHINGTON — The chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee said he will push for passage of legislation to permanently stop the Department of Veterans Affairs from denying gun ownership to tens of thousands of former service members incapable of managing their financial benefits.
The VA announced in February that it was reversing a 30-year policy of flagging veterans for the National Instant Criminal Background Check System when they are unable to manage their financial benefits.
But Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill., said his legislation is a “permanent fix” that cannot be undone by future administrations that might try to reimplement the policy.
The Veterans Second Amendment Protection Act, which Bost is leading, is pending a vote in the House. The bill has collected 70 co-sponsors — all Republicans.
Bost is working with House leadership to bring the bill to the floor soon, according to his office. A companion bill is awaiting a vote in the Senate.
“The VA’s longstanding policy of discriminating against veterans with fiduciaries — and automatically reporting them to the FBI’s NICS list — that practice unfairly targets the very men and women who served our country and undermines the constitutional protections they fought to defend,” Bost said.
The legislation would stop the VA from identifying veterans requiring fiduciaries for inclusion in the national database, which identifies people banned from buying and possessing firearms.
The NICS list, managed by the FBI, contained 72,818 VA fiduciary program beneficiaries, according to the VA.
All of those names were removed in March, said Quinn Slaven, VA press secretary.
“VA sent notification letters to all affected fiduciaries, so they could share information with their clients. ... [VA] is proud to correct this decades-old injustice,” Slaven said.
Going forward, the VA will only seek to include a veteran in the FBI database if a court determines the individual is a danger to self or others, the agency said.
“That’s wild that the VA has been taking away veterans’ gun rights. It was overreaching. That’s just not right,” said Army veteran Adam Johnson, 42, of Tennessee, whose mother acted as a conservator managing his Social Security benefits for several years until his mental health improved.
Johnson, who deployed twice to Iraq, said he experienced “mental health trauma,” including post-traumatic stress disorder, after leaving the military in 2008.
Johnson has not applied for VA disability benefits because his other-than-honorable discharge disqualified him, he said, but he is now seeking to upgrade his status.
“I am pleased to see Secretary [Doug] Collins and the Trump administration taking the next step in this process of restoring these rights; this is long overdue,” Bost said. “I look forward to passing my bill … to provide a permanent solution and ensure that the rights of our veterans are protected and respected.”
The National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action said that it has been more than a year since President Donald Trump issued an executive order on “Protecting Second Amendment Rights.”
The executive order directed a federal review of regulations and actions that “restricted lawful firearm ownership,” the NRA-ILA said.
“For decades, anti-gun bureaucrats have stripped veterans of their Second Amendment rights without due process,” said John Commerford, executive director of the NRA-ILA.
“The Veterans’ Second Amendment Protection Act would guarantee that those who proudly wore the uniform of the United States Armed Forces be afforded the same constitutional protections as other law-abiding citizens,” Commerford said.
