Opinion
On Tuesday, May 6, 2025, the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, led by Chairman Mike Bost (R-IL-12), held a markup for several bills. Among these bills being considered was H.R. 1041, the Veterans 2nd Amendment Protection Act, sponsored by Chairman Bost himself. The Committee voted to favorably report this legislation by a vote of 13-11. With this important step of the legislative process complete, the bill can now be considered by the full U.S. House of Representatives.
This bill would reverse a decades-long practice that has been used by the Department of Veterans Affairs to strip hundreds of thousands of veterans of their constitutionally protected Second Amendment rights without the same level of due process afforded to all other law-abiding Americans.
NRA-ILA has written about this bill and its movement in the past, and a previous version of this legislation was included in the House Appropriations bill in 2023. This legislation would cement this crucial constitutional protection and prevent future anti-gun administrations from trying to reinstate this unconstitutional policy. Additionally, this legislation would instruct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to notify the Attorney General that veterans who had previously lost their rights through this bureaucratic overreach should no longer be considered prohibited persons.
This legislation would essentially restore the constitutional rights of hundreds of thousands of veterans who have wrongfully been denied their right to keep and bear arms, and protect countless veterans in the future from suffering that same fate.
On behalf of the millions of NRA members and law-abiding gun owners nationwide, we thank Chairman Bost and the members of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs who have worked diligently to advance this important bill.
NRA-ILA will continue to update you as this bill continues to advance through the legislative process.
About NRA-ILA:
Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the “lobbying” arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess, and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Visit: www.nra.org
