Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB926 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 926
5	5	To amend title 38, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of Veterans
6	6	Affairs to establish a program to furnish to certain veterans items
7	7	used for the secure storage of firearms, and for other purposes.
8	8	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
9	9	MARCH11 (legislative day, MARCH10), 2025
10	10	Mr. K
11	11	ING(for himself and Mr. SHEEHY) introduced the following bill; which
12	12	was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
13	13	A BILL
14	14	To amend title 38, United States Code, to direct the Sec-
15	15	retary of Veterans Affairs to establish a program to
16	16	furnish to certain veterans items used for the secure
17	17	storage of firearms, and for other purposes.
18	18	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
19	19	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
20	20	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
21	21	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Saving Our Veterans 4
22	22	Lives Act of 2025’’. 5
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25	25	•S 926 IS
26	26	SEC. 2. PROGRAM OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS 1
27	27	TO FURNISH TO CERTAIN VETERANS ITEMS 2
28	28	USED FOR SECURE STORAGE OF FIREARMS. 3
29	29	(a) P
30	30	ROGRAM.— 4
31	31	(1) I
32	32	N GENERAL.—Subchapter II of chapter 17 5
33	33	of title 38, United States Code, is amended by add-6
34	34	ing at the end the following new section: 7
35	35	‘‘§ 1720M. Program to furnish to eligible individuals 8
36	36	items intended to be used for the secure 9
37	37	storage of firearms 10
38	38	‘‘(a) I
39	39	NGENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry out a 11
40	40	program to provide to an eligible individual, upon the re-12
41	41	quest of the eligible individual— 13
42	42	‘‘(1) a covered item or a redeemable voucher to 14
43	43	aid in the distribution of a covered item; and 15
44	44	‘‘(2) information relating to the benefits of, and 16
45	45	options for, secure firearm storage. 17
46	46	‘‘(b) D
47	47	ISTRIBUTION OFCOVEREDITEMS.—In car-18
48	48	rying out the program under subsection (a), the Secretary 19
49	49	is authorized to work with organizations that have experi-20
50	50	ence, expertise, and business knowledge regarding secure 21
51	51	firearm storage and secure firearm storage devices. 22
52	52	‘‘(c) P
53	53	UBLICEDUCATIONCAMPAIGN.— 23
54	54	‘‘(1) I
55	55	N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall design 24
56	56	and carry out a public education campaign to inform 25
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60	60	eligible individuals of the availability of covered 1
61	61	items under the program under subsection (a). 2
62	62	‘‘(2) P
63	63	ARTNERSHIP.—In carrying out the public 3
64	64	education campaign required under paragraph (1), 4
65	65	the Secretary may partner with organizations that 5
66	66	have experience with respect to secure firearm stor-6
67	67	age devices. 7
68	68	‘‘(3) A
69	69	SSURANCE ABOUT LAWFUL OWNERSHIP 8
70	70	OF FIREARMS.—The Secretary shall include in the 9
71	71	public education campaign required under paragraph 10
72	72	(1) material that assures eligible individuals that 11
73	73	their participation in the program under subsection 12
74	74	(a) does not impact lawful ownership of firearms. 13
75	75	‘‘(d) R
76	76	EPORTS TOCONGRESS.—Not later than Octo-14
77	77	ber 1, 2025, and not less frequently than annually there-15
78	78	after, the Secretary shall submit to the appropriate com-16
79	79	mittees of Congress a report that includes— 17
80	80	‘‘(1) a description of the program under sub-18
81	81	section (a) in a manner consistent with applicable 19
82	82	law; 20
83	83	‘‘(2) during the period covered by the report, 21
84	84	the number of covered items distributed by the Vet-22
85	85	erans Health Administration and the number of cov-23
86	86	ered items redeemed outside of the Veterans Health 24
87	87	Administration under the program; 25
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91	91	‘‘(3) an assessment of efforts made to increase 1
92	92	outreach and distribution of covered items under the 2
93	93	program to eligible individuals who are not enrolled 3
94	94	in the system of annual patient enrollment of the 4
95	95	Department established and operated under section 5
96	96	1705 of this title; 6
97	97	‘‘(4) an assessment of any obstacles to increas-7
98	98	ing outreach to eligible individuals who are enrolled 8
99	99	in such system and those who are not enrolled in 9
100	100	such system; and 10
101	101	‘‘(5) an identification of additional steps that 11
102	102	will be taken during the one-year period after the 12
103	103	submission of the report to improve the processes 13
104	104	through which eligible individuals receive a covered 14
105	105	item under the program. 15
106	106	‘‘(e) D
107	107	EFINITIONS.—In this section: 16
108	108	‘‘(1) The term ‘appropriate committees of Con-17
109	109	gress’ means— 18
110	110	‘‘(A) the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 19
111	111	and the Committee on Appropriations of the 20
112	112	Senate; and 21
113	113	‘‘(B) the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 22
114	114	and the Committee on Appropriations of the 23
115	115	House of Representatives. 24
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119	119	‘‘(2) The term ‘covered item’ means a lockbox 1
120	120	that— 2
121	121	‘‘(A) is used for the secure storage of a 3
122	122	firearm and ammunition; 4
123	123	‘‘(B) is designed, intended, and marketed 5
124	124	to prevent unauthorized access to a firearm or 6
125	125	ammunition; 7
126	126	‘‘(C) may be unlocked only by means of a 8
127	127	key, combination, or other similar means; 9
128	128	‘‘(D) is in compliance with the standard of 10
129	129	the American Society for Testing and Materials 11
130	130	F2456–20, or any successor standard; 12
131	131	‘‘(E) is manufactured in the United States; 13
132	132	and 14
133	133	‘‘(F) is not eligible or intended for com-15
134	134	mercial or individual resale. 16
135	135	‘‘(3) The term ‘eligible individual’ means— 17
136	136	‘‘(A) a veteran; or 18
137	137	‘‘(B) an individual described in section 19
138	138	1720I(b) of this title.’’. 20
139	139	(2) C
140	140	LERICAL AMENDMENT .—The table of sec-21
141	141	tions at the beginning of such chapter is amended 22
142	142	by inserting after the item relating to section 1720L 23
143	143	the following new item: 24
144	144	‘‘1720M. Program to furnish to eligible individuals items intended to be used
145	145	for the secure storage of firearms.’’.
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149	149	(b) EDUCATION AND TRAINING.—The Secretary of 1
150	150	Veterans Affairs shall— 2
151	151	(1) in consultation with representatives of orga-3
152	152	nizations and agencies that are subject to a memo-4
153	153	randum of understanding with the Secretary on pre-5
154	154	venting veteran suicide and other such entities as 6
155	155	the Secretary determines appropriate— 7
156	156	(A) develop an informational video on se-8
157	157	cure storage of firearms as a suicide prevention 9
158	158	strategy; and 10
159	159	(B) publish such informational video on an 11
160	160	internet website of the Department of Veterans 12
161	161	Affairs; and 13
162	162	(2) publish information to inform individuals 14
163	163	who participate in the program under section 1720M 15
164	164	of title 38, United States Code (as added by sub-16
165	165	section (a)(1)) that any lockbox furnished pursuant 17
166	166	to such program is not eligible or intended for com-18
167	167	mercial or individual resale. 19
168	168	(c) R
169	169	ULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act 20
170	170	or the amendments made by this Act may be construed— 21
171	171	(1) to collect personally identifiable information 22
172	172	of an individual who participates in the program 23
173	173	under section 1720M of title 38, United States Code 24
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177	177	(as added by subsection (a)(1)) for the purposes of 1
178	178	tracking firearm ownership; 2
179	179	(2) to require any such individual to register a 3
180	180	firearm with the Department of Veterans Affairs, or 4
181	181	any other Federal, State, Tribal, or local unit of 5
182	182	government; 6
183	183	(3) to require mandatory firearm storage for 7
184	184	any such individual; 8
185	185	(4) to prohibit any such individual from pur-9
186	186	chasing, owning, or possessing a firearm under sec-10
187	187	tion 922 of title 18, United States Code; 11
188	188	(5) to discourage the lawful ownership of fire-12
189	189	arms; or 13
190	190	(6) to create or maintain a list of individuals 14
191	191	participating in such program. 15
192	192	(d) A
193	193	UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 16
194	194	are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Vet-17
195	195	erans Affairs $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 18
196	196	through 2036 to carry out this section and the amend-19
197	197	ments made by this section. 20
198	198	Æ
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