“Our veterans took an oath to uphold the Constitution and they deserve to enjoy the rights they fought so hard to protect.” Senator Richard Burr (R-NC)

Anti-gun legislation is usually passed in the middle of the night, or just before a holiday break or at the close of a Congressional session.  In most instances, it is when the lawmakers are in a rush to get out of town and when few members are actually present for the vote.

More often than not, anti-gun bills are disguised and written in such a way as to mask the true intent of the bill.  Such was the case when, in December of 2007, the House and Senate passed one of the worst anti-gun bills in recent history, the so-called NICS Improvement Act.  The bill passed by Unanimous Consent in both chambers, which means there was no recorded vote.

But rather than “improving” the NICS background check system, the bill which was signed into law by President George Bush only made things worse … a lot worse.

NICS stands for National Instant Criminal Background Check System.  Any American who wishes to purchase a firearm from a gun dealer must first submit to a background check to determine if he or she is a criminal.

But the NICS system actually has a much broader agenda. The background checks are also designed to prevent anyone who is “adjudicated as a mental defective” from purchasing a firearm.  Originally, the mental defective prohibition was intended to target criminal defendants who escaped punishment because they were found not guilty by reason of insanity.

In recent years, however, gun control advocates within the government have expanded the reach of the “mental defective” prohibition to even include many of our brave military veterans!

Students of history know that the first step taken by dictators and despots is to brand their opponents as insane so they can be locked away forever. Supporters of the Brady law and the NICS database claim their goal is to prevent those who may pose a danger to society or to themselves from purchasing firearms.

And yet, over and over again, we see these gun control proponents aren’t really interested in going after criminals, because they also advocate expansive gun bans that target ordinary citizens.

In America, citizens expect a rigorous and fair process before any of their Constitutional rights are taken away.  Unfortunately, when it comes to veterans and their families, the process is neither rigorous nor fair.

After the Brady law went into effect, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) began sending the names of many of its beneficiaries to the FBI so they could be added to the NICS list, denying these individuals their right to purchase a firearm.  To date, more than 150,000 military veterans have been denied.

However, none of these veterans were ever convicted of a crime; none were found to be a danger to anyone; and none were afforded any meaningful due process of law.  Under the semblance of being “mental defectives,” these veterans were added to the list strictly because a doctor or a bureaucrat in the VA appointed someone to manage their finances.

The al Qaida terrorists in Guantanamo have been given more due process than the American soldiers who fought them!

This is a travesty of justice!

So ask yourself, if this outrage is already taking place under the VA’s national health care system, what might await America under the giant government medical database created by ObamaCare?  That’s why GOA has been working tirelessly to expose this indignation and is determined to pass a bill to restore the Second Amendment rights of veterans.

Pro-gun Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) authored S. 669, the Veterans Second Amendment Protection Act, that will safeguard for veterans two of the most fundamental Constitutional rights enjoyed by Americans: due process of law and the right to keep and bear arms.

The Veterans Second Amendment Protection Act simply requires that a veteran cannot lose his or her gun rights “without the order or finding of a judge, magistrate, or other judicial authority of competent jurisdiction that such person is a danger to himself or herself or others.”

This very reasonable bill passed out of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee last June, having been approved unanimously, but anti-gun Majority Leader Harry Reid will not let it see the light of day.  Sen. Burr is currently seeking opportunities to attach the bill as an amendment to another piece of legislation.

I need your help to get this bill passed.  You must tell your Senators you expect them to support this bill.  We will be exposing this outrage in the media, on the internet and wherever we can have our voice heard.

Please contact your Senators.   We can win this battle, but only if we each give our maximum effort.  Thank you again for your continued support for our work. And if you can, CONTRIBUTE TO GOA to help us in this important fight.

Sincerely,

Larry Pratt

Executive Director