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 House passage of the Veterans 2nd Amendment Protection Act (H.R. 1041). 

The legislation would enable veterans who have been deemed “mentally incompetent” by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and who have been assigned a fiduciary, to purchase a firearm by withholding this information from the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). Previously, veterans with this designation, who are often at elevated risk of suicide or other violent action, had their names submitted to NICS to prevent them from purchasing firearms to protect themselves and others from gun violence. 

This bill would also retroactively remove hundreds of thousands of VA records from NICS, instantly creating a massive gap in the background checks system. It would allow hundreds of thousands of at-risk individuals to buy and use guns again — even if they are in a state of crisis.

“This legislation represents one of the most significant weakenings of our federal background check system in recent history. More than 6,400 veterans die by suicide every year in the United States. Rather than expanding critical resources to address this crisis, House Republicans are pushing legislation that would make it easier for at-risk veterans to obtain firearms. This is not a policy disagreement — it is a matter of life and death,” said GIFFORDS Executive Director Emma Brown.