To amend title 38, United States Code, to prohibit the Secretary of Veterans Affairs from transmitting certain information to the Department of Justice for use by the national instant criminal background check system.
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
ReportedAdditional sponsors: Mr. Barrett, Mr. Langworthy, Mrs. Hinson, Mr. Messmer, …
Reported with amendments, committed to the Committee of the Whole …
Mr. Bost (for himself, Mr. Luttrell, Mr. Bergman, Mrs. Biggs …
Summary
What This Bill Does
This bill prevents the VA from automatically reporting veterans to the federal gun background check system (NICS) simply because they have someone else managing their VA benefits. Currently, veterans assigned a fiduciary to handle their finances can lose their gun rights without any judicial finding that they are dangerous. This bill requires a judge to determine a veteran is dangerous before their gun rights can be restricted.
Who Benefits and How
Veterans with fiduciaries benefit by retaining their Second Amendment rights unless a court specifically finds them dangerous. An estimated 167,000+ veterans have been reported to NICS solely due to fiduciary status—they would have their records cleared. Gun rights advocacy groups achieve a long-sought policy goal.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Gun safety advocates face a policy setback as veterans with mental health challenges may retain firearm access. The VA faces administrative burden to notify DOJ about all prior fiduciary-based NICS submissions within 30 days. The background check system may need to process removal of veterans previously flagged.
Key Provisions
- Prohibits VA from reporting veterans to NICS based solely on fiduciary assignment
- Requires judicial finding of dangerousness before gun rights restriction
- VA must notify DOJ within 30 days that prior fiduciary-based reports no longer apply
- Clarifies that VA mental incompetence determination alone cannot trigger "mental defective" gun prohibition
- Retroactive effect: clears NICS records for previously reported veterans
Evidence Chain:
This summary is derived from the structured analysis below. See "Detailed Analysis" for per-title beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
Primary Purpose
Prohibits the VA from reporting veterans to the NICS background check system solely because they have a fiduciary managing their benefits, unless a judge has ruled them dangerous.
Policy Domains
Legislative Strategy
"Restore gun rights to veterans who lost them solely due to needing help managing finances"
Likely Beneficiaries
- Veterans with fiduciaries
- Gun rights advocates
Likely Burden Bearers
- Gun safety advocates (policy concern)
- VA administrative processes
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "secretary"
- → Secretary of Veterans Affairs
- "attorney_general"
- → Attorney General
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
A person appointed under section 5502 to manage VA benefits on behalf of a beneficiary
Federal gun law term for persons prohibited from possessing firearms due to mental adjudication
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology