Amendment would prevent unelected bureaucrats from stripping veterans of their right to keep and bear arms
U.S. SENATE – U.S. Senator Steve Daines voted today to prevent veterans from losing their Second Amendment right to purchase or own firearms when they receive help managing their Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) benefits. The amendment is based on the “Veterans Second Amendment Protection Act.”
“We must protect the Second Amendment rights of our veterans. As we approach Veterans Day and remember those who bravely sacrificed so much so that we can be free, the least we can do is protect them from being stripped of this constitutional right. Unelected bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. already make our veterans’ lives difficult enough. We should not give them the authority to strip our veterans of their right to bear arms,” said Daines.
Under current law, the VA is required to send a beneficiary’s name to the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) whenever a fiduciary is appointed to help a beneficiary manage his or her VA benefits.
Ultimately, VA employees decide whether veterans receive help from a fiduciary.
The amendment Daines supported would prohibit the Secretary of Veterans Affairs from transmitting a veteran’s personal information through the VA fiduciary program to NICS unless a relevant judicial authority rules that the beneficiary is a danger to himself or others.
The amendment text is available here.