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Gun Reports - News

Rumor Alert: Veterans Health and 'Sporting Purposes'

(GunReports.com) -- Among the hundreds of questions GunReports.com and other media outlets answer every month are scores of rumors. Three of the most recent top rumors involve veterans’ gun rights, the status of the “sporting purposes” test for firearms importation, and new restrictions on gun shows, the NRA-ILA reports.

The first of these stems from a widely circulated email, allegedly from a “Vietnam vet and retired police officer,” claiming he visited a Department of Veterans Affairs clinic and was asked several mental health questions. The message goes on to claim that the nurse told him a “wrong” answer would be “reported … to Homeland Security” and result in the loss of his Right-to-Carry permit.

Fortunately for veterans, that warning was incorrect. It’s true that mental health questions are now standard procedure during the patient intake process at VA facilities. That's a result of heightened concern about post-traumatic stress disorder and similar legitimate issues affecting veterans.

However, the Department of Homeland Security isn't the agency that compiles records of people who are prohibited from possessing firearms. The FBI does that, in order to operate the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. And although some VA records are reported to NICS, a record will only be reported if the person has been "adjudicated as a mental defective"—in other words, that the person is mentally incompetent.

At the VA, a person can only be found incompetent after a lengthy process that includes the opportunity for a hearing and appeal. Just telling a nurse you feel "stressed" (as the email claims) wouldn’t be enough. And the NICS Improvement Amendment Act of 2007 not only makes clear that any "adjudication" without those procedures won't result in the loss of gun rights, but also provides a way for those who have been found incompetent to get the finding reversed.

The second rumor involves a provision in the recently signed fiscal year 2012 Justice Department appropriations bill, which prohibits the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives from banning the importation of shotguns that are currently legally imported. The provision was prompted by a BATFE “study” that sought to reinterpret the “sporting purposes” test in a manner that would have banned the import of popular hunting, self-defense and target shotguns.

Unfortunately, some have wrongly concluded that this provision repeals the “sporting purposes” test for importation of all firearms. While the NRA does support a repeal of that unconstitutional standard, the recent bill doesn’t go nearly that far. The new provision only prevents, at least in the short term, new shotgun bans under the “sporting purpose” language. Heading off the current ban is cause for celebration, but by no means is the NRA’s work on this issue finished.

Finally, an email has recently circulated claiming that law enforcement officials at a Colorado gun show have told vendors that as of Jan. 1, 2012, only federal firearms licensees would be able to sell guns at shows, and that private citizens would only be able to buy or sell two firearms per year.

This message may be based on a misunderstanding of Colorado law—which does require background checks on firearm transfers at gun shows, but doesn’t prohibit all private sales—or it may just be yet another rumor. After all, since 1986, the Firearms Owners’ Protection Act has made clear that under federal law, a private individual can “make occasional sales, exchanges, or purchases of firearms for the enhancement of a personal collection or for a hobby” without needing an FFL. NRA-ILA is investigating this issue, and will report any further information of interest in a future issue.

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Reader Comments

This story sounds awfully familiar. Didn't one of you guys post something similar on here a few months back? In fact, doesn't "Nam-vet and retired cop" describe a few of you? OK, 'fess up - which of you started this rumor?

OR, is that really happening to you guys? Are you really being quizzed about your firearms use by the VA?

Comment by: david b | January 12, 2012

Since I have fully retired, so I now have more time to spend in clinics and hospitals, I have yet to experience any sort of inquisition concerning my love of firearms. Of course, my primary care provider is well aware of my long term and continuing love affair with all forms of firearms, as well as my fidelity to the Second Amendment. While I am retired Army, as a commissioned officer, I was not placed into the Veterans Administration Health-care system, but I am very much into the TRICARE military health-care system. So far, nobody has given a flip concerning my affection for firearms, and should they get curious, I am likely to ignore any queries into my firearms background.

Comment by: canovack | January 13, 2012

I was thinking it might have been bear1 who said that he'd been questioned, but I might be wrong. Cecil B maybe? I don't remember....

Comment by: david b | January 13, 2012

Years ago I had a VA psychologist say to me that he thought I was a little paranoid by saying that if someone was in my home in the wee hours of the morning illegally, there was a good chance, that, that someone might not make it out of the home alive.

Comment by: Vernon R | January 20, 2012

Well, Vernon, in my experience most psychologists and psychiatrists are sort of weird anyway, and I think there is a tendency to label those with whom they meet as being as weird as they are.

Comment by: canovack | January 20, 2012

If I'm not mistaken, those two professions have the highest suicide rates of any. Higher than doctors who regularly bury their patients.

Comment by: david b | January 21, 2012