Last week, a consortium of Democrat lawmakers in the House signed a joint letter suggesting infringements on certain veterans’ Second Amendment Rights because of a “mentally incompetent” diagnosis from Veterans Affairs (VA) rating agencies. The current regulation regarding VA pensions, 38 CFR 3.353, defines “mentally incompetent” as “A…person is one who because of injury or disease lacks the mental capacity to contract or to manage his or her own affairs, including disbursement of funds without limitation.”
The “official determination” of mental incompetency is made by the VA rating agencies, who have “sole authority” in making such a determination. According to the regulation, the determination is made for purposes of insurance and disbursement of benefits. This regulation does not address “determinations of insanity,” as that is the very next code, 38 CFR 3.354, and not a subject of the bill’s amendment.
BREAKING
140+ House Democrats demand @DeptVetAffairs begin using state gun confiscation laws to disarm veterans in response to the law ending the Clinton-era Veteran Gun Ban that GOA forced Biden to sign last weekend.
See the full letter here.⤵️https://t.co/yLEY85LFjJ pic.twitter.com/WEv1wYSfE4
— Gun Owners of America (@GunOwners) March 15, 2024
The Democrat lawmakers letter, as published by Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA), states:
As members of the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, we are deeply concerned with Section 413 known as the Kennedy Amendment, which was included in the Senate-passed appropriations bill for Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies appropriations bill, and
later included in the minibus for six of the 12 government funding bills.…
At a time when veteran suicide remains a terrible crisis, we should not be making it easier for veterans who are a danger to themselves or others to access firearms. Perversely, the Kennedy Amendment is not only a threat to the physical health of veterans, but also threatens to put troubled veterans into legal jeopardy. When the VA makes a determination that a veteran is “mentally incompetent,” the veteran automatically becomes a ‘prohibited purchaser’ under longstanding federal regulations, thereby making it a felony for the veteran to purchase a firearm. This is true whether the firearm is purchased in a private sale or through a licensed dealer, and it is true whether or not the VA has submitted information about the mental status of the veterans to NICS.
We urge the Department to take several actions to protect veterans. First, we ask you to commit to creating an automatic process to seek a judicial order for veterans the Department has found to be mentally incompetent for the purposes of appropriately adding them to the NICS background check system.
Second, we request that the Department complete a study on veterans who are determined to be “mentally incompetent,” and the veterans who die by suicide or are involved in incidents of gun violence. Understanding the sensitive nature of this information, this report should consist of
anonymized numerical data and analysis.
The Democrats make reference to Robert Card, the alleged shooter from Maine who killed 18 people last October. The letter considers Card a “reminder of what can happen when red flags are not taken seriously.” But Card, as far as has been reported, was not adjudicated as “mentally incompetent.” In fact, Card was reportedly still in the Army Reserves.
However, according to the New York Post, Card was committed to a mental facility for two weeks in the summer prior. This would have been a ‘yellow flag’ (as it’s referred to in Maine law). The ATF form required for background checks prior to a gun purchase, Form 4473, explicitly asks, “Have you ever been adjudicated as a mental defective OR have you ever been committed to a mental institution?”
Back in 2014, the ATF amended the definition of “mental[ly] defective” to mean:
“…persons who are found incompetent to stand trial or not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect, lack of mental responsibility, or insanity, and that the term includes persons found guilty but mentally ill.“
The Democrats who signed on to this letter are calling for the infringement on the Second Amendment Rights of veterans that is not equaled in civilian requirements while using a propagandized comparison that does not equate. Card should have been flagged after being committed to a mental facility, not because he couldn’t manage his finances (‘mentally incompetent’).
Ironically, the Democrats who are promoting the infringement of veterans’ rights without due process are silent when it comes to gender dysphoria, a mental disorder according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. While the Democrats opine that their pushback to the Amendment is to protect suicidal veterans, they conveniently ignore one of the most vulnerable demographics when it comes to self-harm and suicide: the transgender community. A study published to the National Library of Medicine “indicate[s] that 82% of transgender individuals have considered killing themselves and 40% have attempted suicide.”
For this reason, this hyper-focused virtue signal from 138 Democrats feels more like politicization against those who swore an Oath to defend our Constitution rather than genuine concern for the well-being of the veteran as well as American society as a whole.
