The issue of veterans and gun
rights has been a sticking point in the $631 billion defense bill. Sen. Tom
Coburn, R-Okla. has attempted to halt the Veterans
Affairs Department plan to place the names of some veterans into the National Instant Criminal
Background Check System. Sen. Coburn
has stated that, in order to take away someone's Second Amendment rights, it
should be adjudicated, rather than simply mandated by an automated system.
Inclusion on the list would mean
those veterans would be prohibited from buying or owning firearms. Sen. Charles
Schumer, D-N.Y., has stated that though he loves the country's veterans, if they
have been deemed mentally unfit, they should not have possession of a gun.
"The Veterans Administration
currently appoints fiduciaries, usually the family members of a veteran, to
manage his or her pensions and disability benefits when they have been declared
mentally incompetent," said Veterans disability lawyer James Fausone. "When
a vet has been declared mentally incompetent, his or her name is automatically
entered in the Criminal Background Check System."
A group, led by Sen. Richard
Burr, R-N.C., has been pushing to change that policy, allowing the addition of
the name to the list only if a judge deemed the veteran to be a danger. This latest
version of the bill, co-sponsored by 21 lawmakers, passed the Senate Veterans'
Affairs Committee. The legislation also has the backing of the National Rifle Association and numerous
veterans' advocacy groups. Meanwhile, the Brady
Center to Prevent Gun Violence supports the VA's current policy. Tom
Tarantino, chief policy officer for Iraq and
Afghanistan Veterans of America, has stated that vets who have a traumatic
brain injury or PTSD, but who pose no actual threat to others might view the
current restriction as a disincentive to seek treatment.
As of 1998, 185 of the 127,000
veterans on the gun-check registry list have worked to have their names
removed, according to the VA. Veterans can appeal their diagnosis, and can
petition for their firearm rights to be reinstated by the agency to have his
firearm rights restored on the basis of not posing a threat to public safety.
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