DOJ Unfairly Targeting Veterans' Gun Rights

The Veterans Administration and Department of Justice are unfairly targeting veterans with a labeling system that bans mentally stable veterans from owning guns. This is NOT about PTSD soldiers who need counseling and meds to get through their daily lives.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley wrote a letter last week to Attorney General Eric Holder complaining about this injustice and is demanding answers. Grassley says the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) is filled with military veterans who are essentially banned from owning guns, even though they may not be a danger to society.

The VA is listing Veterans who need FINANCIAL assistance, in the “mentally incompetent” category.

The VA recommends many military veterans who it deems “incompetent” and in need of financial assistance to manage their benefits be placed in the “mental defective” category of the national gun ban list.

At issue is whether these veterans are suffering from mental illnesses.

According to a 2013 Senate report, the Department of Veteran Affairs is responsible for reporting more than 143,000 beneficiaries, including about 83,000 veterans, to the “mental defective” category of the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.

Any federal agency can report people to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, but the VA’s recommendations account for about 99 percent of the people who are listed in the mental defective category.

Grassley says the VA doesn’t actually consider “whether a veteran is a danger to himself, herself, or others,” which is the federal standard for denying someone a gun. There is a “real possibility that the right to firearms will be infringed,” he said.

The gun ban “effectively voids their Second Amendment rights,” Grassley said.

Grassley is right. I have been warning Americans for several years that this was coming. Now, I’m seeing it first hand, almost every time a Veteran comes to my gun range and attempts to purchase a firearm.

A close personal friend who is a Veteran, just recently returned from Afghanistan He was honorably discharged after being shot several times, yet, he was told he is allowed to shoot guns and handle guns, but not allowed to own one for 10 years.

This Veteran is NOT mentally ill.

Being listed blocks veterans from purchasing guns.

“It’s disturbing to think that the men and women who dedicated themselves to defending our freedom and values face undue threats to their fundamental Second Amendment rights from the very agency established to serve them,” Grassley wrote.

However, Grassley claims many of these veterans should not be precluded from owning guns. “A veteran or dependent shouldn’t lose their constitutional rights, because they need help with bookkeeping,” he added.

Grassley’s letter has been sent to Holder. If you think Holder is actually going to do something about this, please call me. I have some ocean front property in Kansas to sell you.

 

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