Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) is introducing legislation Tuesday to protect miliary veterans from having their Second Amendment rights stripped away by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
The legislation is the Defending Veterans’ Second Amendment Rights Act and is designed to “prohibit the Secretary of Veterans Affairs from transmitting certain information to the Department of Justice for use by the national instant criminal background check system.”
Specifically, the Act states:
The Secretary of Veterans Affairs may not transmit to any entity in the Department of Justice, for use by the national instant criminal background check system established under section 103 of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, personally identifiable information on veterans and other beneficiaries, solely on the basis of a determination by the Secretary under chapter 11 of title 38, United States Code, that a person has a service-connected
disability.
There is a multipronged approach to stop the persistent, decades-long threat of a loss of rights for veterans, particularly Second Amendment rights.
On January 24, 2025, Breitbart News pointed to Rep. Eli Crane’s (R-AZ) legislative push to bar “unelected bureaucrats” who operate behind the scenes and target the rights of military veterans who use a fiduciary to help with their finances.
Crane, a former U.S. Navy SEAL, noted that Democrats who support the status quo on bureaucrats being able to strip away gun rights often claim they do so in order to help reduce suicide among veterans, particularly combat veterans. But Crane rejected this line of thinking, saying, “When it comes to suicide, a lot of these individuals, a lot of veterans….who are struggling with PTSD and have some of these issues, one of [their] biggest issues is fear and trauma because [they] thought [they] might lose [their] life in battle against other people with guns.”
He suggested that taking away their guns now only serves to increase the feeling of defenselessness, thereby increasing feelings of fear and fueling the very suicides which Democrats claim they are trying to stop.
Rep. Chip Roy commented on the Defending Veterans’ Second Amendment Rights Act, telling Breitbart News, “Those who put their lives on the line for our nation should not have to worry about having their fundamental liberties wrongly stripped from them when they seek the medical care or benefits they have earned. Unfortunately, this happens far too often. I am proud to stand up and defend the constitutional Second Amendment rights of our veterans.”
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio, a member of Gun Owners of America, a Pulsar Night Vision pro-staffer, and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010 and has a Ph.D. in Military History. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly:
