GOA Pushing for Veto-Proof Majority in Senate
The House this week adopted legislation protecting the Second Amendment rights of veterans.
Sponsored by Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-MT), the legislation requires that before a veteran can lose his or her gun rights, they must receive due process in a court of law. Rehberg offered the measure as an amendment to H.R. 2349, which passed the House on a voice vote.
Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) told GOA he plans to introduce a Senate version of the bill right away. GOA is working to get as many cosponsors to this legislation as possible. In the last Congress, Sen. Burr’s bill passed out of committee only to be derailed by Harry Reid and anti-gun Senate Democrats.
Veterans Disarmament Act
It might seem like a no-brainer. In America, no one—be they in the military or a civilian—should be stripped of their constitutional liberties without having their day in court, right? But it can happen, and it does happen.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) can deem a veteran as a “mental defective” for the sole reason of having a third party appointed over their financial affairs. Veterans with mental health issues such as temporary memory loss or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) commonly turn over control of their finances to a spouse or family member.
Because persons found to be “mental defectives” are prohibited from owning firearms, the names of these veterans are turned over to the FBI’s NICS system.
No crime needs to have been committed. No finding that the person is even remotely dangerous. No trial by a jury of one’s peers. A veteran can be stripped of his or her gun rights simply by the capricious action of government bureaucrats.
Ok, some may protest, but this must happen rarely. It must be an aberration, a mistake. Wrong.
Since 1999, over 150,000 honorably discharged veterans have lost their gun rights in precisely this manner. And though it’s theoretically possible to get off the list, that rarely—if ever—happens.
Gun owners who are not veterans can also be affected by the current law because the definition of “mental defective” used by the VA applies to anyone. It affects veterams particularly hard because of the ease of information sharing between one federal agency (VA) and another (FBI).
But under ObamaCare, medical records for all Americans will be made increasingly available to Washington bureaucrats. What safeguards are in place to ensure that those records will not likewise be abused? None.
That’s why it is vitally important that all gun owners contact their two Senators and insist that they support Sen. Burr’s Veterans Second Amendment Protection Act.
This bill ensures that a veteran cannot lose his or her gun rights without a finding in a court of law that the person is a danger to self or others.
This would mean no more “psychiatric gun bans” for vets, and it will serve notice to the federal government that the same thing will not be allowed to happen to the rest of the population.
GOA is working to get as many cosponsors as possible. Due process under the law is something even anti-gunners should support (they won’t, of course), and we are pushing to get a veto-proof majority behind this legislation.
ACTION: Please contact your Senators and urge them to cosponsor the Second Amendment Veterans Protection Act.
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