If you’ve heard anything about GOP Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming in recent days, it’s likely been that she voted against former President Donald Trump, along with nine other Republican party members, to have him impeached. As a result, she is being heavily criticized by the party and her constituents for not fighting for America’s best and her peoples’ needs.
However, it doesn’t seem to be the at all hope for the soul of Liz Cheney has been lost.
This week, in partnership with another GOP congressman, Mike Best of Illinois, Cheney has put forth legislation that could forever ensure the Second Amendment rights of Americans or at least Veterans of our great nation.
Unfortunately, in recent decades, the political left has moved to infringe upon the American people’s constitutional rights more and more, effectively stripping many of them of their right to keep and bear arms. And as this movement has progressed, veteran-affiliated agencies like the Department of Veteran Affairs or the VA have sided with them.
According to an article by The Hill, the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1994 is one such move in that direction.
While it was intended to limit gun access to those with mental illnesses and therefore prevent violence, it caused an array of issues, both legally and in the practical sense.
At the top of that list is the VA’s allowance to strip veterans of their 2A rights if they so much as require a fiduciary to assist with their finances.
Yes, you read that right. If a veteran decides to let someone help handle their finances as they age and retire, the VA takes this as a sign that they are mentally aware enough to own or keep a gun and, therefore, takes that right from them.
Cheney and Best see this as a severe problem, as all Americans should.
It’s called the Veterans 2nd Amendment Protection Act, and, if passed into law, would require the VA to gain legal proof that veterans are either a danger to themselves or others before such infringements of their rights are taken.
According to the bill, “The Secretary may not transmit to any entity in the Department of Justice, for use by the national instant criminal background check system established under section 103 of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act.”
Additionally, “Personally identifiable information of the beneficiary, solely on the basis of a determination by the Secretary to pay benefits to a fiduciary for the use and benefit of the beneficiary under section 5502 of this title, without the order or finding of a judge, magistrate, or other judicial authority of competent jurisdiction that such beneficiary is a danger to themselves or others.”
Both Cheney and Best noted that is the intention of this bill to “ensure that the Second Amendment Rights of law-abiding veterans are not hindered by government red tape, and will prevent unelected bureaucrats from denying veterans of their ability to purchase or own a firearm.”
As Best so correctly stated, “Veterans fought to defend our constitutional rights, including the Second Amendment right to own a firearm. No government bureaucrat should be able to strip them of that right… That is unacceptable and Chairwoman Cheney and I won’t stand for it.”
Finally, someone is taking a stand in the right direction.
Sure, we still have a long way to go and, if Biden’s Administration is any indication, the road to ensuring all law-abiding citizens get to keep their right to bear arms will be a difficult one. But if we are going to make any headway whatsoever, we have to quit standing on the sidelines, simply wishing for the political left to fail in their anti-gun movements.
Instead, we have to get up and take the fight to them, letting them know that these rights are ours, God-given and Constitutionally. And if they want to take those rights, they will have to come through us first, and it won’t be an easy, if even possible, task.