Good News from the VA for Veterans?!

US Department of Veterans Affairs Seal

I realize not all of you are veterans. The percentage of the US population who participates in our nation's defense has fortunately decreased dramatically. I once saw statistics saying 11% of eligible Americans served in WWII, but the chart dwindled to just 0.1% participating in the Global War on Terror. Even if you didn't serve, chances are good you know someone who did, and I ask you to please forward this article to them.

As some of you are aware I served in both Afghanistan and Iraq and so have a front-row seat to how the Veteran's Administration handles things. It's not often we hear good news about the VA, but today we have some. The press release below was published this morning.

BLUF: Previously veteran's needing a fiduciary to manage their benefits due to age, mental clarity, or physical limitations were reported to the FBI's NICS system as a "prohibited person". It was assumed that a person of such limited capacity to manage their benefits was of the same category of mental limitations that are prohibited from owning a firearm. In short, if a veteran needed such help they gave up the very Civil Rights they had served to protect. That is no longer. See original VA press release HERE. A segment of it is below.

"WASHINGTON — The Department of Veterans Affairs today announced a major new step to protect Veterans’ Second Amendment rights. Effective immediately, VA will not report Veterans to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System as “prohibited persons” only because they need help from a fiduciary in managing their VA benefits.

This corrects a three-decade-old wrong that deprived many thousands of Veterans in VA’s Fiduciary Program of their constitutional right to own a firearm without a legal basis.

After a thorough review, VA recognized that many Veterans had been deprived of their Second Amendment rights without hearings or adequate determinations that they posed a sufficient risk of danger to themselves or others. In consultation with the Department of Justice, VA has determined this practice violates both the Gun Control Act and Veterans’ Second Amendment rights. According to federal law, a decision by a judicial or quasi-judicial body is needed before someone can be reported to NICS.

A determination by the VA that a fiduciary is needed to help manage a Veteran’s VA benefits falls far short of this legal standard.

In addition to immediately stopping the reporting of VA Fiduciary Program participants to NICS, the department is working with the FBI to remove all past VA reporting from NICS..."