House Republicans push to restore gun rights to Veterans

By Chris Eger

As of December 31, 2016, the VA has reported 167,824 individuals to NICS. (Photo: VA)
Lawmakers have proposed a bill that would reverse the Department of Veterans Affairs’ practice of reporting veterans to the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check system.
The measure, introduced last month, would prohibit the VA from considering any beneficiary assigned a fiduciary trustee to act on their behalf as being declared “mentally defective” without a hearing.
“The freedoms granted by the Constitution should apply to all Americans—especially the men and women who have been willing to risk their lives to protect those freedoms,” said sponsor, House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Phil Roe, R-Tenn., in a statement. “This commonsense bill would ensure no veteran or beneficiary is declared ‘mentally defective’ simply because they utilize a fiduciary.”
Roe’s bill, H.R. 1181, the Veterans 2nd Amendment Protection Act, would require a federal magistrate or judicial authority ruling that a VA beneficiary is a danger to themselves or others before the agency would forward their information to the FBI. Currently, the VA automatically sends the veteran’s name if they meet a certain list of guidelines, effectively making them prohibited firearms possessors under the law.
Last year, as the number of veterans reported to

Source: Guns.com