House Votes to Repeal Gun Ban for Military Veterans

On Thursday the U.S. House voted to repeal the gun ban for military veterans via the passage of the Veterans 2nd Amendment Protection Act.

This is the second major gun control bill that the House has voted to repeal since Barack Obama left office. They voted to repeal the Social Security gun ban on February 2, the Senate follow suit on February 15, and President Trump signed the repeal on February 28.

The Social Security gun ban was egregious because it portended a loss of Second Amendment rights without due process. The gun ban for military veterans is more of the same. It is structured so that military veterans receiving disability benefits can be investigated if their benefit check is sent to a third party to help manage finances; the premise is that if they need help managing finances they may be mentally unfit for gun ownership. But House Republicans and Second Amendment supporters have pointed out that requiring help balancing a checkbook or managing finances is a far cry from being dangerous with a firearm.

USA Today quoted NRA-ILA’s Chris Cox saying, “Receiving assistance to handle personal finances does not mean an individual is unable to safely own a firearm. Our brave men and women in the military should not be stripped of their constitutional rights without due process of law.”

The Veterans 2nd Amendment Protection Act  is sponsored by House Committee on Veteran Affairs chairman Phil Roe (R-Tenn.). It passed by a vote of 240-175 and is designed to guard Second Amendment rights and the due process rights of military veterans. The NRA-ILA explained, saying, “The Veterans 2nd Amendment Protection Act would ensure that going forward, veterans who use a fiduciary would not be stripped of their constitutional rights unless a judicial authority first finds they pose a danger to themselves or others. This ensures due process rights for all veterans.”

Retired General David Petraeus and others are working with Gabby Giffords’ gun control group, Veterans Coalition for Common Sense, to pressure Republicans into preserve the gun ban for military veterans.

AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.