I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1987
To amend title 38, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of Veterans
Affairs to establish a program to furnish to certain individuals items
used for the secure storage of firearms, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH10, 2025
Mr. D
ELUZIO(for himself, Mr. JAMES, Mr. FITZPATRICK, and Mr.
L
ANDSMAN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Veterans’ Affairs
A BILL
To amend title 38, United States Code, to direct the Sec-
retary of Veterans Affairs to establish a program to
furnish to certain individuals items used for the secure
storage of firearms, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Saving Our Veterans 4
Lives Act of 2025’’. 5
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SEC. 2. PROGRAM OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS 1
TO FURNISH TO VETERANS AND CERTAIN 2
FORMER MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES 3
ITEMS USED FOR SECURE STORAGE OF FIRE-4
ARMS. 5
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Subchapter II of chapter 17 of 6
title 38, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 7
end the following new section: 8
‘‘§ 1720M. Program to furnish to veterans and certain 9
former members of the Armed Forces 10
items intended to be used for the secure 11
storage of firearms 12
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—(1) The Secretary shall carry out 13
a program to provide to an eligible individual, upon the 14
request of such eligible individual— 15
‘‘(A) a covered item, or a redeemable voucher to 16
aid in the distribution of a covered item; and 17
‘‘(B) information with respect to the benefits 18
of, and options for, secure firearm storage. 19
‘‘(2) In distributing covered items to eligible individ-20
uals pursuant to such program, the Secretary is author-21
ized to work with eligible entities that have expertise and 22
business knowledge with respect to secure firearm storage 23
and secure firearm storage devices. 24
‘‘(b) A
NNUALREPORT.—Not later than one year 25
after the date of the enactment of the Saving Our Vet-26
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erans Lives Act of 2025, and on an annual basis there-1
after, the Secretary shall submit to the appropriate con-2
gressional committees a report that includes, with respect 3
to the period covered by the report— 4
‘‘(1) a description of the how the program— 5
‘‘(A) functions; and 6
‘‘(B) promotes the secure storage of fire-7
arms; 8
‘‘(2) the number of— 9
‘‘(A) covered items distributed pursuant to 10
the program; 11
‘‘(B) redeemable vouchers distributed pur-12
suant to the program; and 13
‘‘(C) such redeemable vouchers redeemed 14
for a covered item; 15
‘‘(3) efforts made to increase the outreach with 16
respect to such program to veterans not enrolled in 17
the system of annual patient enrollment established 18
and operated under section 1705 of this title; 19
‘‘(4) a description of any obstacles, if any, to 20
increasing such outreach; and 21
‘‘(5) a description of additional steps, if any, 22
the Secretary intends to implement during the one- 23
year period beginning on the date of the submission 24
of the report to improve the processes by which eligi-25
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ble individuals receive a covered item pursuant to 1
the program. 2
‘‘(c) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 3
‘‘(1) The term ‘appropriate congressional com-4
mittees’ means— 5
‘‘(A) the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs 6
of the House of Representatives and the Sen-7
ate; and 8
‘‘(B) the Committees on Appropriations of 9
the House of Representatives and the Senate. 10
‘‘(2) The term ‘covered item’ means a lockbox 11
that— 12
‘‘(A) is used for the secure storage of a 13
firearm and ammunition; 14
‘‘(B) is designed, intended, and marketed 15
to prevent unauthorized access to a firearm or 16
ammunition; 17
‘‘(C) may be unlocked only by means of a 18
key, combination, or other similar means; 19
‘‘(D) is in compliance with the applicable 20
standard of American Society for Testing and 21
Materials F2456–20; 22
‘‘(E) is manufactured in the United States; 23
and 24
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‘‘(F) is not eligible or intended for com-1
mercial or individual resale. 2
‘‘(3) The term ‘eligible individual’ means— 3
‘‘(A) a veteran; and 4
‘‘(B) an eligible individual described in 5
subsection (b) of section 1720I of this title.’’. 6
(b) C
LERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of sections 7
at the beginning of such chapter is amended by adding 8
after the item relating to section 1720L the following new 9
item: 10
‘‘1720M. Program to furnish to eligible individuals items intended to be
used for the secure storage of firearms.’’.
(c) EDUCATION AND TRAINING.—The Secretary of 11
Veterans Affairs shall— 12
(1) in consultation with representatives of orga-13
nizations and agencies that are subject to a memo-14
randum of understanding with the Secretary with 15
respect to the prevention of suicide among former 16
members of the Armed Forces (including the reserve 17
components) and other such entities as the Secretary 18
determines appropriate— 19
(A) develop an informational video on se-20
cure storage of firearms as a suicide prevention 21
strategy; and 22
(B) publish such informational video on an 23
internet website of the Department; and 24
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(2) publish information to inform individuals 1
who participate in the program under section 1720M 2
of title 38, United States Code (as added by sub-3
section (a)) that any item intended to be used for 4
the secure storage of a firearm furnished pursuant 5
to such program is not eligible or intended for com-6
mercial or individual resale. 7
(d) P
UBLICEDUCATIONCAMPAIGN.— 8
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall design 9
and carry out a public education campaign to edu-10
cate individuals eligible to participate in the program 11
under section 1720M of title 38, United States Code 12
(as added by subsection (a)), to inform such individ-13
uals— 14
(A) of the availability of items intended to 15
be used for the secure storage of a firearms 16
under such program; and 17
(B) that participation in such program 18
does not affect the rights of an individual with 19
respect to the lawful ownership of a firearm. 20
(2) C
OLLABORATION AUTHORIZED .—In car-21
rying out such campaign, the Secretary may collabo-22
rate with organizations that have expertise with re-23
spect to secure firearm storage and secure firearm 24
storage devices. 25
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(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 1
are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary 2
$5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2036 3
to carry out— 4
(1) this section; and 5
(2) the program under section 1720M of title 6
38, United States Code (as added by subsection (a)). 7
(f) R
ULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act, 8
or the amendments made by this Act, may be construed 9
to— 10
(1) collect personally identifiable information of 11
an individual who participates in the program under 12
section 1720M of title 38, United States Code (as 13
added by subsection (a)) for the purposes of track-14
ing firearm ownership; 15
(2) require any such individual to register a 16
firearm with the Department of Veterans Affairs, or 17
any other Federal, state, tribal or local unit of Gov-18
ernment; 19
(3) require mandatory firearm storage for any 20
such individual; 21
(4) prohibit any such individual from pur-22
chasing, owning, or possessing a firearm under sec-23
tion 922 of title 18, United States Code; 24
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(5) discourage the lawful ownership of firearms; 1
or 2
(6) create or maintain a list of individuals that 3
participate in such program. 4
Æ
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