Representative Eli Crane (R-AZ) applauded the Trump Administration's recent reversal of a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) rule that prevented many from fully exercising their Second Amendment rights.
In June 2024, Rep. Crane brought attention to veterans being unfairly added to the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) if they have a VA fiduciary, which legally considers them mentally defective, denying them the right to carry firearms.
The rule has been in place since the Clinton Administration, causing many veterans to hesitate when seeking post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) treatment through the VA in fear of their right to carry being revoked.
In July 2024, Rep. Crane was able to get his Veteran Gun Rights Restoration Act passed out of the House Veterans Affairs Committee. He subsequently introduced the Safeguarding Veterans' 2nd Amendment Rights Act, a bill that would prohibit VA employees from participating in proceedings related to state gun confiscation laws, which is tied to the Fiduciary Rule mentioned above.
The VA recently announced that veterans with a VA fiduciary will no longer be reported to the NICS system and will have their names removed from the database.
"For nearly three decades, unelected bureaucrats violated the constitutional rights of hundreds of thousands of our nation's heroes," the Arizona congressman said in a press release. "If the federal government is willing to strip fundamental liberties from those who served in uniform, there's no telling where they will draw the line."
Crane expressed his gratitude to President Donald Trump and VA Secretary Doug Collins "for correcting this injustice and protecting the freedoms that our veterans fought to defend. Congress must now codify this directive so no future administration can reimplement this disgraceful protocol."
In April 2025, Representative Abe Hamadeh (R-AZ), cosponsored legislation clarifying legalities surrounding firearm suppressors, better known as silencers.
