After 30 years of bureaucrats quietly treating money-management help like a reason to strip gun rights, the VA is finally backing down.
What the VA Changed—and Why It Matters
This week, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced it will stop sending veterans’ names to the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System when those veterans are assigned a fiduciary to help manage their finances. The VA says the change takes effect immediately and follows a joint legal review with the Department of Justice. The decision targets a practice that affected roughly 200,000 former service members.
The heart of the issue is simple: needing help paying bills is not the same as being a violent threat. For decades, the VA’s administrative determination that a veteran required a fiduciary could trigger NICS reporting, which in turn blocked lawful firearm purchases. The new approach treats gun-rights restrictions as something that requires a stronger, more formal finding—one tied to dangerousness, not just financial capacity.
The Fiduciary Program Was Turned Into a Gun-Policy Shortcut
The fiduciary program exists to protect veterans who can’t manage their benefits due to injury, illness, or age, often by appointing a family member or trusted person to assist. Over time, that benefits-focused designation became intertwined with firearm eligibility, even though it was not designed as a public-safety adjudication. Critics argued that this blurred line effectively turned a paperwork decision into a constitutional penalty without the kind of due process Americans expect.
Federal firearms law has long required careful procedures when the government claims that someone is legally prohibited from possessing a firearm. Reporting someone as a prohibited person is a serious step because it blocks purchases nationwide and can carry criminal consequences if misunderstandings occur. The VA’s updated policy emphasizes that future reporting should occur only after a court determines a veteran is a danger to themselves or others, rather than relying on an internal benefits determination.
How the New Standard Addresses Due Process and the Second Amendment
Supporters of the VA’s reversal point to a core constitutional concern: rights shouldn’t disappear because of an agency checkbox. The VA and DOJ review concluded the prior practice conflicted with the framework governing when someone can be treated as mentally disqualified for firearms purposes, which generally hinges on a court or similarly formal process. Attorney General Pam Bondi called it unlawful and unacceptable for veterans to have constitutional rights threatened.
VA Secretary Doug Collins framed the change in terms of everyday reality: many Americans struggle with finances, especially after injuries, illness, or major life disruptions. Under the old system, a veteran could seek help managing earned benefits and end up losing the right to keep and bear arms without any judicial finding of danger. The new policy draws a clearer boundary between getting assistance and being labeled a prohibited person in a national law enforcement database.
What Happens Next: Records Cleanup and a Push to Make It Permanent
The administrative work ahead may matter just as much as the announcement. The VA says it will work with federal partners to remove names entered into NICS solely on the basis of fiduciary status. That process determines whether the change is felt quickly on the ground—especially for veterans who were previously denied at the gun counter because a decades-old VA record triggered an automatic “deny” during a background check.
Veterans' New Second Amendment Victory: VA Halts Fiduciary-Based Firearm Banshttps://t.co/CG9Vyr5chk
— RedState (@RedState) February 19, 2026
Republican lawmakers are also looking beyond the executive action and toward permanence. Past efforts included a 2024 pause that applied only to certain new fiduciary cases and did not restore rights retroactively. Lawmakers, including House Veterans’ Affairs leadership and Senate committee leadership, have signaled interest in codifying protections so a future administration can’t quietly revive the same reporting pipeline. For constitutional conservatives, that legislative step is the firewall.
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VA undoes decades-old wrong and protects Veterans’ Second Amendment rights
VA ends gun restrictions for veterans in fiduciary program