VA cannot report veterans to gun background checks for mental incompetence alone.

What it does

The bill stops the VA from sending veteran names to the FBI. It does this when the VA assigned someone to manage a veteran's money. The VA must tell the Attorney General this practice has stopped. A VA decision about mental incompetence alone cannot stop gun ownership. Only a court order can do that.

Who it affects

Veterans with VA-assigned money managers are affected. The bill changes who can buy guns.

One thing to notice

The bill removes a safety check that may have stopped some veterans from buying guns. Veterans the VA thought might hurt themselves or others could now pass a background check.

From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.

Where it stands

70 cosponsors: 70 Republicans.

• Feb 6, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
• Feb 6, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Veterans' Affairs and Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs”
• May 6, 2025 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
• May 6, 2025 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported by the Yeas and Nays: 13 - 11”
• May 21, 2026 — Passed the House · Congress.gov: “On passage Passed by the Yeas and Nays: 216 - 201 (Roll no. 190). (text: CR H3684-3685)”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

8 groups reported lobbying about this bill. They filed 14 reports from Dec 2025 to Jun 2026.

Those reports show $4,116,848 in lobbying spending. Each report lists about 74 bills. So that money was not all for this bill.

More groups named this bill than 88% of bills with any report.

Mike Bost, who sponsored the bill, received $931,360 from PACs for the 2026 election.

• National Shooting Sports Foundation — $1,990,000 in 1 report
• National Rifle Association of America — $990,000 in 2 reports
• National Association for Gun Rights — $429,548 in 2 reports
• Disabled American Veterans — $310,451 in 2 reports
• Paralyzed Veterans of America — $199,349 in 2 reports

Lobbying is legal. These reports show who lobbied about this bill, not what changed.

Words to know

• mental incompetence — A VA decision that someone cannot handle their own money or affairs.
• background check — A search to see if someone can legally buy a gun.
• Attorney General — The top law officer for the United States government.
• court order — A judge's official decision that a law must be followed.
• lobbying — Trying to influence lawmakers about a bill. Companies and groups pay people to do this.
• PACs — Groups that collect money and give it to candidates for office.