[Girlene]

I don't think there has to be a finding of "mentally incompetent", rather the VA decides the person is "incompetent to handle his affairs" (financial stuff). The VA can assign someone else to handle your "affairs", then deny you the ability to pass the NICS. Tom Coburn tried to get this changed last winter by adding to the defense appropriation bill (I think), but was unable to get it done.

Read about NICS, here BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON THE NICS IMPROVEMENT AMENDMENTS ACT OF 2007 AND ANSWERS TO “FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS”

.....No. The NICS Act does not change the prohibition enacted in 1968 that bars people who are dangerously mentally ill from purchasing or possessing a gun. Under federal law, people may not buy or possess a gun if they are “adjudicated as a mental defective” or “committed to any mental institution.” ATF regulations define “adjudicated as a mental defective” as a:

determination by a court, board, commission, or other lawful authority that a person, as a result of marked subnormal intelligence, or mental illness, incompetency, condition, or disease: (1) Is a danger to himself or others; or (2) Lacks the mental capacity to contract or manage his own affairs......

This has been around for some time. Now, how long have the VA bureaucrts been doing this?....... I've seen numbers of 127,000 designations since 1998.

[Mr Rogers]

Veterans coming back from Iraq or Afghanistan are sometimes told that they can get extra government benefits if they have mental problems. Some of those mental problems do NOT keep a person from owning a gun, but some do. My son-in-law was a Marine, and has 100% disability for various back, leg and shoulder injuries - and brain damage. However, the brain damage he suffered is the sort that affects short term memory, and so he is still fully legal to own and use guns. Just don’t ask him which gun he shot at the range 24 hours later, or he may have forgotten...