H.R. 1181 would require the Federal Bureau of Investigation to eliminate over 174,000 records from the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) that were reported by the Department of Veterans Affairs, allowing easy access to guns for many individuals suffering from serious mental illnesses like dementia, schizophrenia, and long-term severe PTSD. Current Federal Law ALREADY guarantees due process protections for Veterans to ensure no individual incorrectly fails a background check to buy a gun. To make an initial determination that a veteran is mentally incompetent, the VA requires clear and convincing evidence demonstrating the beneficiary’s incompetency. Veterans may present new evidence regarding their incompetency determination at any point. Signed into law in December 2016, the bipartisan 21st Century Cures Act also codified veterans’ due process protections during the adjudication process. Before a final determination, he or she must be provided notice and an opportunity to request a hearing. Should the veteran disagree with the final adjudication, he or she can appeal to a FEDERAL JUDGE. This law is meant to limit the information provided for background checks, period. People who care about our armed forces should know that non-deployed veterans are at a 61% greater risk of suicide compared to the American civilian population, an estimated 6,000 veterans take their own lives each year (20 vets every day) and 67% do it with guns. Not to mention that while Veterans account for 13% of the adult population, more than a third of the adult perpetrators of the 43 worst mass killings since 1984 had been in the United States military. It is clear that, in the etiology of mass killings, military service is an important risk factor. This is NRA lobbying and craven politics putting American lives at unnecessary risk.