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VETERANS' SUICIDE PREVENTION BILL HELD UP OVER
GUN
RIGHTS -- Sen. Tom Coburn concerned section of
bill that
requires VA to provide "appropriate tracking of
veterans"
could prevent vets from buying handguns.
Under previous firearms legislation, the VA (in
2000) turned over the names of between 83,000 and 89,000 veterans to the
NCIC (National Crime Information Center) database.
These were veterans with mental health issues.
It's not exactly clear what a veteran had to do to be included on this
list. But, inclusion on the list will prevent a veteran from
legally purchasing a handgun.
It was thought that this new legislation would
exclude veterans. We had an earlier story that indicated Democrats
had cut a deal to keep vets out of the NCIC database. Guess that
didn't work. Be sure to read this background story here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/07/
nf07/nfJUN07/nf061107-3.htm
For more on veterans and guns (and gun control), use the VA Watchdog search
engine...click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/ses
search.php?q=gun+guns&op=or
This story came to me via email. It
should be posted later on www.cq.com .
(Congressional Quarterly)
Story below:
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Coburn Holds Up Veterans’ Suicide Prevention
Bill Over Gun Rights
By Patrick Yoest, CQ Staff
Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., has blocked passage of a measure intended to
address the high suicide rate among veterans, citing concerns that the
bill could compromise gun rights.
Coburn, who has one of the most conservative voting records in the
Senate, often places holds on bills that contain what he characterizes
as wasteful spending. But the suicide prevention bill (HR 327) — which
Democratic Senate leaders hoped to pass by unanimous consent before the
August recess — does not authorize any spending. The Congressional
Budget Office said the bill would have “little, if any, cost.”
The House approved the bill 424-0 on March 21. Its passage in the Senate
would send it to the president for his signature. The Senate Veterans’
Affairs Committee approved a similar bill (S 479) sponsored by Tom
Harkin, D-Iowa, by voice vote July 27.
The Oklahoma senator’s objections to the bill largely focus on possible
threats to gun purchasing, according to Coburn spokesman John Hart.
Hart said Coburn has expressed concern that a section of the bill saying
the Veterans Affairs Department “shall provide for appropriate tracking
of veterans” would result in data-gathering that could prevent veterans
from purchasing handguns. Coburn is concerned that if the department
shared health data with other federal agencies — such as the Justice
Department —then veterans with mental illness could be barred from
purchasing handguns.
Coburn’s hold has left some veterans’ groups flummoxed. Iraq and
Afghanistan Veterans of America legislative director Patrick Campbell
said Coburn’s hold is “ludicrous” and “focuses on a problem that doesn’t
exist.”
“It’s a red herring argument to stop something, and it’s just not based
in the facts,” Campbell said.
Second Amendment concerns have arisen in part because of possible Senate
action this fall on a measure to make more electronic data available to
states for checking the criminal and mental health records of people who
want to purchase guns, according to Hart. The measure currently is
included as a part of a draft school safety bill approved Aug. 2 by the
Senate Judiciary Committee.
Gun Owners of America communications director Erich Pratt said the
background check measure “will deter veterans from seeking help and
counseling if they think that being helped with something like
post-traumatic stress disorder will disqualify them from owning guns.”
The criminal background check measure “will undercut the efforts” in the
suicide prevention bill, Pratt said.
But Campbell of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America contends
the background check measure would have no effect on the definition of
mental illness in the current law, which requires that a person be
“adjudicated as a mental defective” before being added to the database.
That classification would exclude veterans who only exhibit risk factors
for suicide or only sought treatment for mental illness such as
post-traumatic stress disorder, Campbell said.
According to Hart, Coburn also is concerned that a provision in the bill
would require patients seeking VA medical care to receive screening for
suicide risk factors.
The suicide prevention bill, sponsored by Democratic Rep. Leonard L.
Boswell of Iowa, largely would build on efforts already taken by the
department. It is named after Joshua Omvig, who served in the Army
Reserve and killed himself in December 2005 after an 11-month deployment
in Iraq. Omvig’s parents have pushed for improved readjustment
procedures for returning servicemembers.
Recent studies confirm that the incidence of suicide is higher among
military servicemembers and veterans than in the general population, and
the rate appears to be increasing in some cohorts. An Army study
released last week showed that the rate of suicide for Army soldiers
rose to a rate of 17.3 per 100,000 soldiers in 2006, the highest rate in
26 years.
In a statement, Harkin said the bill still has a bright outlook for
passage after the August recess.
“We have to help veterans in crisis to prevent the needless deaths of
those who have so bravely served our country and this bill takes us one
step closer toward that goal,” Harkin said. “We are confident that we
can move this bipartisan legislation . . . through the Senate quickly in
September.”
Source: CQ Today
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Larry Scott --
