U.S. Sen. Burr misfires

Chicago Tribune: If the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs determines that a military veteran is mentally incompetent, it can provide aid, such as appointing a fiduciary to handle his or her financial affairs. That’s a service to protect the veteran. A needed service.

If the VA finds that a vet is mentally incompetent, though, it also by law reports that information to the federal government’s instant background check system, which is used to determine if someone can buy a firearm. If you’re in the system — you have a criminal record or you’ve been found mentally incompetent — you can’t legally buy a gun. If you try, you’ll be flagged during the background check and denied.

Legislation

Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., is pushing a Veterans Second Amendment Protection Act. The measure, which got a unanimous thumbs-up from the Veterans Affairs Committee and awaits action by the full Senate, would block the VA from reporting veterans to the background check system based on the agency’s own evaluation. A court would have to rule that a veteran is incompetent.

Burr argues that it shouldn’t be so easy for the government to take away the rights of veterans.

Actually, it’s not easy. The VA certainly isn’t playing gotcha with veterans’ constitutional rights; it provides assistance to them.