This is an interesting subject I get into with my “lunch group” at Applebee’s™ every so often. We meet at the Gig Harbor restaurant infrequently for lunch and enjoy one another’s camaraderie. We’re all pretty openminded and even willing to let Marines join us.  The group continues to grow and it’s a wonderful opportunity to discuss our lives and all things VA. If you’re  a local, let me know and I’ll put you on the call list to join us. Vietnam Era Vets only.

So, let’s dive into this. The subject was published recently in the NRA American Rifleman magazine (above) on how VA treats us when they declare us incompetent to handle our a finances. The article is by Randy Kozuch and does a great job describing the illegality and the proposed revision to rid us of this burden. As an aside, I’m proud to say I’m a Patron member of the NRA. My father bought me my membership shortly after I was born. I did the same for my son. And, politics aside, here’s the Senator driving this bill who I wish I had representing me.

To be honest, Cupcake would tell you I’m as certifiable as the Mad Hatter regarding PTSD. I understand my shortcomings in that area and try to behave myself in public. In fact, I’ve been exceptionally well-behaved and haven’t shot anyone in over two years. That business with the ding-a-ling who stole my Expedition was a fluke. It was determined to be self defense so it really doesn’t count.

In my book, anyone who’d steal my car from me and then try to run over me with it must be certifiably insane and needs waaaay more than a fiduciary. That’s why I took mercy on him and only trimmed his right ear a mite and temporarily “disabled” his right arm so he couldn’t steer. Truth be told, I didn’t miss. A blind man couldn’t at that distance.  I just didn’t have the heart to kill someone that mentally deranged. Too bad about the jail shut down for Covid. They let him go.

I know many of my clients resent getting tarred and feathered as bugf**ky and declared so unstable as to require them to relinquish their firearms. Many fight to defeat this overstepping of their rights and hire a psychologist to swear otherwise. I would too. Being criminally insane is a far cry from being unable to make wise decisions on how to spend one’s money or how to deal with car thieves. VA unfortunately makes all these folks sit on the Group F bench and demands they accept a fiduciary to administer their funds.

I don’t deny there are some whose TBI or PTSD render them in need of  one  and that may be okay for some whose wife/significant other can take over paying bills. But what of the single Vet? She or he is at the mercy of some gomer the VA assigns to them who collects about $100 a month for performing this function. Could be it’s far more than that as inflation these days drives everything up. One thing’s for sure is that we know it attracts an inordinate number of sleazy characters because you read about them regularly in the monthly VAOIG reports. They tend to help themselves to your dough and it takes forever for the VA cops to catch them at it.

Mr. Kozuch points to the fact that being declared incompetent to handle your VA funds is a far cry from being declared incompetent as you or I might understand it. In his own words, Mr. Kozuch said:

“It is not an “adjudication” in the sense of opposing sides going before a judge to argue about the person’s mental capacity based on evidence submitted by a court-appointed mental-health professional. Moreover, the determination is strictly limed to the beneficiary’s ability to manage VA benefits and applies only in the VA context.”

“Nevertheless, in every case, no matter what the reason is for the veteran receiving benefits or for having a fiduciary appointed, the VA automatically reports the veteran to NICS (National Instant Criminal Background Check System)as a “mental defective”. This means the veteran cannot lawfully purchase or receive a firearm. It also means the veteran could face felony prosecution simply for possessing firearms the veteran already owns.”

So you can see the problem facing Veterans. I’m not going into a long diatribe about who should, or should not be allowed to possess firearms. Cain knocked off Abel with nothing more than a rock. Knives are responsible for more deaths per capita than firearms. Sure, every once in a while we get some joker with a 214 who goes NASDAQ and decides to shoot up a church or supermarket. They’re the outliers that do not represent mainstream Veterans. To have a lesser standard of who’s demented and who’s not is grossly unfair.

But.. we don’t condemn a whole class of folks with a unique signature like religion or race to this indignity. Were I to file for PTSD as a byproduct of my adventures in Southeast Asia fifty years ago, the first thing I’d lose would be my VA accreditation RFN. Undoubtedly, if they rated me at 100%, I’d get the fiduciary treatment regardless of my mental deficiencies.

So how do they do this? Well, it all occurs on the VA Form 21-2680. When I file one of my Veterans for Special Monthly Compensation (SMC), the first thing I am required to supply is the document filled out by , at a minimum, a MD, a Doctor of Osteopathic medicine, a PA or a APRN. Yeppers, kids. Look on page two of the new four-page version under Section V: Certification and Signature.  Here’s a copy to verify this.

VAF 21-2680 no template OCR

Now think about this. Jimi Hendrix summed it up with his song about “Hey Joe where you going with that gun in your hand?” I think  we could all agree planning on shooting your old lady down for fooling around is a valid metric for saying Joe shouldn’t have access to guns-Veteran or not. But VA goes a shit ton further when they open this evaluation up to include folks with no PsyD. after their names. I could buy into a psychiatrist or psychologist being allowed to make this determination but what in Sam Hill would a doctor of osteopathic medicine bring to the conversation? Or, for that matter a Physician’s Assistant or an Advance Practice Registered Nurse?  If it takes three years on top of a college degree to do this, seems a PA would be mighty skinny on diagnosing brain box injuries. In fact, all would be ineligible in a civilian court of law.

Nevertheless, on page 3 of 4 on the 2680, in Block 30., the VA asks the clinician, whoever s/he may be or their qualifications,:

“In your judgement, does the patient have the mental capacity to manage their benefit payments or are they able to direct someone to do it?”

Talk about a power trip. VA invests a nurse with no clue of what’s in the DSM V the plenipotentiary powers to strip him of his 2nd Amendment rights without due process. That’s like giving your auto mechanic the right to perform brain surgery with no medical training. I’m guessing that’s against the law everywhere but California.

Fortunately, legislation is in the pipeline to correct this gross injustice to us Veterans. A House version is pending that would attach a revocation of this insanity to any funding bills-including VA’s annual appropriation. Ditto a version at the Senate that would revoke VA’s arbitrary authority to report the Vet to NICS based on a mentally defective moniker.

Think about the enormity of this crap. Due process means you get to argue this in a court of law as to whether you’re insane. A shrink would be the one to decide and then a Judge who finds in favor of his determination. To let anyone else into the discussion would fly in the face of logic. What’s next? We let state Attorneys General decide who we get to nominate as President in the absence of any conviction whatsoever (except for bad taste in prostitutes) for a crime?

The first time this happened to one of my clients was 2018. He’d come down with Parkinson’s and they granted 100% for the sum total of his deficits. So far so good. Then they diagnosed him with stage IV leukemia and gave him about 3 months to live. I filed John for a&a because he was in a world of shit medically (not mentally). Nurse Ratched checked off the Box 30 for incompetent.

Bingo. Take his guns pronto. They even call you and give you the Brady Briefing as they refer to it. Pardon, sir. Thank you for your service. You have now been warned that you can no longer possess guns or ammo and need to remove them from your home. Failure to do so will result in the revocation of your VA benefits. Please notify us at the VA Dial-a-Prayer number and let us know when you’ve complied. We’re assigning a fiduciary who will have to inspect your domicile and determine if you have complied. If you choose your wife to be the fiduciary, we’ll accept her signature to sign off on the gun gig.

I look forward to a prompt resolution to this insanity. It’s been going on for 25 years and has unfairly deprived untold tens of thousands of Veterans the ability to defend themselves in their own homes (or driveways). In this day and age of home invasions, I can’t even conceive of any government being granted that authority. Well, except for Governor Moonbeam down in California. If he had his druthers, he’d let you keep your guns but outlaw ammo so as to neuter you very, very subtly.

And that’s all I’m going to say about that.