House GOP advances bill that would increase veteran suicide

WASHINGTON — GIFFORDS, the national gun violence prevention group led by former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, condemned the advancement of the Veterans 2nd Amendment Protection Act (H.R. 1041), which progressed out of the House Veterans Affairs Committee today. 

This legislation would be one of the most significant weakenings of our federal background check system in recent history. It prohibits the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) from reporting to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) beneficiaries deemed “mentally incompetent” by the VA on the basis of being assigned a fiduciary to manage their affairs due to injury or disease. This bill would also retroactively remove hundreds of thousands of VA records from NICS, instantly creating a dramatic gap in the background checks system. It would allow hundreds of thousands of people to buy and use guns again—even if they are in a state of crisis.

“We all owe a debt of gratitude to the brave men and women who risked their lives for our country. They fought for our safety, and now we must fight for theirs. More than 6,500 veterans already die by suicide each year in the United States. Rather than addressing this crisis, House Republicans, at the behest of the gun lobby, are pushing to make it easier for veterans who are more vulnerable to suicide to access firearms,” said GIFFORDS Executive Director Emma Brown. “Enacting this dangerous legislation will cost lives. We urge members to oppose this reckless bill on the House floor.”