Amendment requiring a report on veterans no longer reported to the background-check system
House Bill, H.R. 3944 (Senate amendment)
What it did
For decades the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) reported the names of veterans found mentally incapable of managing their own finances to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), because a veteran in that condition who buys a firearm is at acute risk of suicide and of harm to the people around him, children included.
After the 2023 rider ended that reporting, this amendment to the fiscal year 2026 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs bill (H.R. 3944) asked for one thing: a report to Congress on the veterans who would have been reported under the old rule, including how many had since died by suicide or by firearm. It did not restore the reporting.
A yes vote asked Congress to look at the number. A no vote declined to look.
The Senate rejected it 44-51 on August 1, 2025.
At the time of this vote, 6,407 veterans had died by suicide in the most recent year of VA data.
Result: Rejected 44-51
At the time of this vote: 6,407 veteran suicides in 2022 (VA); firearms were used in 73% of veteran suicides in 2023; 2,526 US children aged 1 to 17 were killed by guns in 2022 (CDC data)
The humane vote: Yes (YEA)