The Kentucky Republican has introduced legislation to allow more due process for those reported to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System by Veterans Affairs and Social Security Administrations.
Paul’s bill, the Protecting Gun Rights, and Due Process Act, was filed in the Senate last week and aims to take the White House to task for a series of administrative decisions that have upped the number of prohibited firearms possessors added to the FBI’s database in recent years.
“The Obama administration is at it again, and this time they are unilaterally stripping gun rights from our nation’s veterans and seniors,” Paul said in a statement. “The Protecting Gun Rights and Due Process Act will provide necessary protection for gun-owning Americans, and ultimately ensure that the Second Amendment is not infringed upon.”
Paul’s measure entered as S.2802, would require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to review and remove from NICS any veteran currently reported by that agency that has not been adjudicated as mentally incompetent. Under the language of Paul’s proposal, no person could be added as mentally incompetent unless they have been properly adjudicated as such by a judicial officer or court and the person receives notice to participate with counsel, thus expanding due process protections.
Currently, a veteran assigned a fiduciary trustee to act on their behalf is automatically declared “mentally defective” by the VA and is reported to NICS to regulate firearms possession without ever seeking to find out if the service member is a danger to themselves or others. As of December 2015, the VA has reported 260,381 individuals to the FBI, effectively making them prohibited firearms possessors under the law.