{"id":7227,"date":"2026-02-17T20:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7227"},"modified":"2026-02-17T20:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T20:00:00","slug":"va-undoes-decades-old-wrong-and-protects-veterans-second-amendment-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7227","title":{"rendered":"VA undoes decades-old wrong and protects Veterans\u2019 Second Amendment rights"},"content":{"rendered":"

Originally published:<\/strong> 2026-02-17T20:00:00+00:00. Historical source article: benefits, rules, amounts and deadlines may have changed. Check the official source for current information.<\/p>\n

WASHINGTON <\/strong>\u2014 The Department of Veterans Affairs today announced a major new step to protect Veterans\u2019 Second Amendment rights.\u00a0Effective immediately, VA will not report Veterans to the Federal Bureau of Investigation\u2019s National Instant Criminal Background Check System as \u201cprohibited persons\u201d only because they need help from a fiduciary in managing their VA benefits.<\/p>\n

This corrects a three-decade-old wrong that deprived many thousands of Veterans in VA\u2019s Fiduciary Program of their constitutional right to own a firearm without a legal basis.<\/p>\n

After a thorough review, VA recognized that many Veterans had been deprived of their Second Amendment rights without hearings or adequate determinations that they posed a sufficient risk of danger to themselves or others.\u00a0In consultation with the Department of Justice, VA has determined this practice violates both the Gun Control Act and Veterans\u2019 Second Amendment rights.\u00a0According to federal law, a decision by a judicial or quasi-judicial body is needed before someone can be reported to NICS.<\/p>\n

A determination by the VA that a fiduciary is needed to help manage a Veteran\u2019s VA benefits falls far short of this legal standard.<\/p>\n

In addition to immediately stopping the reporting of VA Fiduciary Program participants to NICS, the department is working with the FBI to remove all past VA reporting from NICS, so no Veterans are unfairly deprived of their Second Amendment rights based solely on participation in VA\u2019s Fiduciary Program.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany Americans struggle with managing their finances, and Veterans\u2019 Second Amendment rights shouldn\u2019t be stripped just because they need help in this area. But for too long, Veterans who needed the services of a VA fiduciary were deprived of their right to bear arms,\u201d said VA Secretary Doug Collins.<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cUnder the leadership of President Trump, we\u2019re correcting this injustice and ensuring Veterans get the same due-process and constitutional rights as all Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Department of Justice supports this action.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is both unlawful and unacceptable for Veterans who serve our country to have their constitutional rights threatened,\u201d said Attorney General Pamela Bondi.<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cIt has been my pleasure to partner with Secretary Collins on this project, and I am directing the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms to review its regulations and propose changes that will prevent current and future violations of our Veterans\u2019 Second Amendment rights.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n

Source: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs<\/a>. Its Veterans is an independent publication and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the U.S. government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Effective immediately, VA will not report Veterans to the Federal Bureau of Investigation\u2019s National Instant Criminal Background Check System as \u201cprohibited persons\u201d only because they need help from a fiduciary in managing their VA benefits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":339,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-u-s-veterans-news","category-trump"],"yoast_head":"\nVA undoes decades-old wrong and protects Veterans\u2019 Second Amendment rights - Its Veterans<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Effective immediately, VA will not report Veterans to the Federal Bureau of Investigation\u2019s National Instant Criminal Background Check System as \u201cprohibited persons\u201d only because they need help from a fiduciary in managing their VA benefits.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7227\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"VA undoes decades-old wrong and protects Veterans\u2019 Second Amendment rights - 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