Last week former Attorney General Eric Holder signaled that he might be considering a run for president in 2020. Americans could never accept a man who targeted the Second Amendment rights of veterans as their Commander-in-Chief. During Holder’s time as Attorney General, the Department of Justice maintained a list of “mental defectives,” who weren’t allowed to purchase firearms, of whom over 99% were veterans. Maggie Ybarra wrote in The Washington Times at the time:
“It’s disturbing to think that the men and women who dedicated themselves to defending our freedom and values face undue threats to their fundamental Second Amendment rights from the very agency established to serve them,” Sen. Chuck Grassley, Iowa Republican, said in a statement Wednesday. “A veteran or dependent shouldn’t lose their constitutional rights because they need help with bookkeeping.”
Mr. Grassley outlined his concerns about the list to Mr. Holder in a letter dated this week. It included various failures by the Department of Justice — including the inconsistent application of standards and weak due process protections — that have led to the Department of Veterans Affairs adding “a disproportionate number of names” to the federal gun ban list.
All federal agencies are required to report names of individuals who are dangers to themselves or others to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System’s “mental defective” category — a status that prevents them from owning or possessing guns.
That means that veterans “are particularly singled out,” Mr. Grassley said. Those veterans should not be required by the Department of Veterans Affairs “to prove that they have the ability to exercise their Second Amendment rights,” he said.
“According to the Congressional Research Service, as of June 1, 2012, 99.3% of all names reported to the NICS list’s ‘mental defective’ category were provided by the Veterans Administration (VA) even though reporting requirements apply to all federal agencies,” Mr. Grassley’s letter said.
There’s no way a man who oversaw such a list targeting veterans should be given the power to lead the nation’s military.
