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Veterans 2nd Amendment Protection Act of 2025
To amend title 38, United States Code, 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.
Summary
This bill would prevent the Department of Veterans Affairs from automatically reporting veterans to the national background check system based solely on the fact that their benefits are managed by a court-appointed fiduciary. Currently, veterans in this situation can be flagged in the system. Under this bill, the VA could only submit such information if a judge or other judicial authority first determines that the veteran poses a danger to themselves or others. The bill adds a new legal requirement for explicit judicial review before the VA shares veterans' information for background check purposes.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Sen. Kennedy, John [R-LA] (R-LA)
37 cosponsors
- Sen. Banks, Jim [R-IN] (R-IN)
- Sen. Blackburn, Marsha [R-TN] (R-TN)
- Sen. Boozman, John [R-AR] (R-AR)
- Sen. Britt, Katie Boyd [R-AL] (R-AL)
- Sen. Budd, Ted [R-NC] (R-NC)
- Sen. Capito, Shelley Moore [R-WV] (R-WV)
- Sen. Cassidy, Bill [R-LA] (R-LA)
- Sen. Cornyn, John [R-TX] (R-TX)
- Sen. Cotton, Tom [R-AR] (R-AR)
- Sen. Cramer, Kevin [R-ND] (R-ND)
- Sen. Crapo, Mike [R-ID] (R-ID)
- Sen. Daines, Steve [R-MT] (R-MT)
- Sen. Graham, Darline [R-SC] (R-SC)
- Sen. Graham, Lindsey [R-SC] (R-SC)
- Sen. Grassley, Chuck [R-IA] (R-IA)
- Sen. Husted, Jon [R-OH] (R-OH)
- Sen. Hyde-Smith, Cindy [R-MS] (R-MS)
- Sen. Justice, James C. [R-WV] (R-WV)
- Sen. Lankford, James [R-OK] (R-OK)
- Sen. Lee, Mike [R-UT] (R-UT)
- Sen. Lummis, Cynthia M. [R-WY] (R-WY)
- Sen. Marshall, Roger [R-KS] (R-KS)
- Sen. McCormick, David [R-PA] (R-PA)
- Sen. Moran, Jerry [R-KS] (R-KS)
- Sen. Moreno, Bernie [R-OH] (R-OH)
- Sen. Mullin, Markwayne [R-OK] (R-OK)
- Sen. Murkowski, Lisa [R-AK] (R-AK)
- Sen. Paul, Rand [R-KY] (R-KY)
- Sen. Ricketts, Pete [R-NE] (R-NE)
- Sen. Risch, James E. [R-ID] (R-ID)
- Sen. Rounds, Mike [R-SD] (R-SD)
- Sen. Scott, Rick [R-FL] (R-FL)
- Sen. Sheehy, Tim [R-MT] (R-MT)
- Sen. Sullivan, Dan [R-AK] (R-AK)
- Sen. Tillis, Thomas [R-NC] (R-NC)
- Sen. Tuberville, Tommy [R-AL] (R-AL)
- Sen. Wicker, Roger F. [R-MS] (R-MS)
Actions (3)
- Mar 11, 2025 Committee on Veterans' Affairs. Hearings held. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 119-35. · senate
- Feb 6, 2025 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs. · senate
- Feb 6, 2025 Introduced in Senate
More bills on these subjects (8)
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Similar bills (6)
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Text versions (1)
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Full text
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
February 6 (legislative day, February 5), 2025
Mr. Kennedy (for himself, Mr. Moran, Mr. Grassley, Mr. Daines, Mrs. Blackburn, Mr. Ricketts, Mr. Rounds, Mr. Cramer, Mr. Banks, Mr. Tillis, Mr. Cassidy, Mr. Boozman, Mr. Scott of Florida, Mr. Tuberville, Ms. Murkowski, and Mr. Sheehy) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
A BILL
To amend title 38, United States Code, 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.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Veterans 2nd Amendment Protection Act of 2025”.
SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS TRANSMITTAL OF CERTAIN INFORMATION TO THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE FOR USE BY THE NATIONAL INSTANT CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECK SYSTEM.
(a) In General.—Chapter 55 of title 38, United States Code, is amended by inserting after section 5501A the following new section: “Sec. 5501B. Prohibition on transmittal of certain information to the Department of Justice for use by the national instant criminal background check system “The Secretary 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 (34 U.S.C. 40901), personally identifiable information of a beneficiary, solely on the basis of a determination by the Secretary to pay benefits to a fiduciary for the use and benefit of the beneficiary under section 5502 of this title, without the order or finding of a judge, magistrate, or other judicial authority of competent jurisdiction that such beneficiary is a danger to themselves or others.”.
(b) Clerical Amendment.—The table of sections at the beginning of chapter 55 of such title is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 5501A the following new item:
“5501B. Prohibition on transmittal of certain information to the Department of Justice for use by the national instant criminal background check system.”. <all>
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