PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Referred to the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in House · Mar 10, 2025
Saving Our Veterans Lives Act of 2025
This bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to implement a program to provide, upon request, a firearm lockbox (or voucher for such item) to eligible individuals. Currently, there is a pilot program under which certain veterans may be prescribed a lockbox by a VA clinician.
The VA must also provide information with respect to the benefits of and options for secure firearm storage.
The VA must develop an informational video on the secure storage of firearms as a suicide prevention strategy and publish the video on its website. Additionally, the VA must publish information to inform individuals who participate in the lockbox program that such lockboxes are not for resale.
The VA must also implement a public education campaign to educate eligible individuals about the availability of lockboxes under the program and that participation in the program does not affect the rights of an individual with respect to the lawful ownership of a firearm.
People & committees
Rep. Deluzio, Christopher R. [D-PA-17] · D–PA
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.
Referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We also preserved the text version used in the PlainBill explanation below.
Source last updated: Sep 19, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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PlainBill explanation
Based on the full Introduced in House · 2025-03-10 text. This explanation has not received human editorial review. This overview describes the proposal’s major provisions; it does not establish what its real-world effects would be.
The proposed Saving Our Veterans Lives Act of 2025 would require the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide eligible veterans and certain other eligible individuals with secure firearm lockboxes or redeemable vouchers upon request, along with storage information. It would also require public education about the program and secure storage. The bill would authorize $5 million annually for fiscal years 2026–2036, but that authorization would not itself provide the funding.
This Act may be cited as the Saving Our Veterans Lives Act of 2025.
The Secretary shall carry out a program to provide to an eligible individual, upon the request of such eligible individual— (A) a covered item, or a redeemable voucher to aid in the distribution of a covered item; and (B) information with respect to the benefits of, and options for, secure firearm storage.
The Secretary shall design and carry out a public education campaign to educate individuals eligible to participate in the program
There are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2036
Eligibility would include veterans and individuals covered by an existing statutory provision, section 1720I(b) of title 38. The supplied bill does not reproduce that provision, so it does not fully explain the additional eligibility category.
The term eligible individual means— (A) a veteran; and (B) an eligible individual described in subsection (b) of section 1720I of this title.
The Department of Veterans Affairs could work with eligible organizations or businesses with expertise in secure firearm storage to distribute the items. This collaboration would be permitted, rather than required.
In distributing covered items to eligible individuals pursuant to such program, the Secretary is authorized to work with eligible entities that have expertise and business knowledge with respect to secure firearm storage and secure firearm storage devices.
Qualifying items would be lockboxes for firearms and ammunition, designed and marketed to prevent unauthorized access and unlocked only with a key, combination, or similar method. They would have to meet the specified ASTM F2456–20 technical standard and be manufactured in the United States.
The term covered item means a lockbox that— (A) is used for the secure storage of a firearm and ammunition; (B) is designed, intended, and marketed to prevent unauthorized access to a firearm or ammunition; (C) may be unlocked only by means of a key, combination, or other similar means; (D) is in compliance with the applicable standard of American Society for Testing and Materials F2456–20; (E) is manufactured in the United States
Program lockboxes would not be eligible or intended for commercial or individual resale. The Department would have to publish information telling participants about this restriction.
(F) is not eligible or intended for commercial or individual resale.
publish information to inform individuals who participate in the program under section 1720M of title 38, United States Code (as added by subsection (a)) that any item intended to be used for the secure storage of a firearm furnished pursuant to such program is not eligible or intended for commercial or individual resale.
The Department would have to report to the House and Senate Veterans’ Affairs and Appropriations committees within one year after enactment and annually afterward. Reports would describe program operations and efforts to promote secure storage, and count distributed items, distributed vouchers, and redeemed vouchers.
Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of the Saving Our Veterans Lives Act of 2025, and on an annual basis thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report
(1) a description of the how the program— (A) functions; and (B) promotes the secure storage of firearms; (2) the number of— (A) covered items distributed pursuant to the program; (B) redeemable vouchers distributed pursuant to the program; and (C) such redeemable vouchers redeemed for a covered item;
The term appropriate congressional committees means— (A) the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Representatives and the Senate; and (B) the Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Annual reports would also cover outreach to veterans outside the Department’s patient enrollment system, obstacles to that outreach, and any planned steps during the following year to improve how eligible people receive lockboxes.
(3) efforts made to increase the outreach with respect to such program to veterans not enrolled in the system of annual patient enrollment established and operated under section 1705 of this title; (4) a description of any obstacles, if any, to increasing such outreach; and (5) a description of additional steps, if any, the Secretary intends to implement during the one-year period beginning on the date of the submission of the report to improve the processes by which eligible individuals receive a covered item pursuant to the program.
The Department would have to develop and post a video explaining secure firearm storage as a suicide prevention strategy. It would consult organizations and agencies with suicide prevention agreements covering former service members, including reserve members, and other entities it considers appropriate. This requirement does not establish that the program would reduce suicides.
in consultation with representatives of organizations and agencies that are subject to a memorandum of understanding with the Secretary with respect to the prevention of suicide among former members of the Armed Forces (including the reserve components) and other such entities as the Secretary determines appropriate— (A) develop an informational video on secure storage of firearms as a suicide prevention strategy; and (B) publish such informational video on an internet website of the Department;
A required public education campaign would explain the availability of storage items and that participation does not affect lawful firearm ownership rights. The Department could collaborate with organizations experienced in secure firearm storage and storage devices.
The Secretary shall design and carry out a public education campaign to educate individuals eligible to participate in the program under section 1720M of title 38, United States Code (as added by subsection (a)), to inform such individuals— (A) of the availability of items intended to be used for the secure storage of a firearms under such program; and (B) that participation in such program does not affect the rights of an individual with respect to the lawful ownership of a firearm.
In carrying out such campaign, the Secretary may collaborate with organizations that have expertise with respect to secure firearm storage and secure firearm storage devices.
The proposed funding authorization would cover both the lockbox program and the other activities required by section 2. It would permit Congress to provide $5 million for each fiscal year from 2026 through 2036; actual funding would require appropriations.
There are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2036 to carry out— (1) this section; and (2) the program under section 1720M of title 38, United States Code (as added by subsection (a)).
The bill would expressly bar interpreting it as authority to collect participants’ identifying information for tracking firearm ownership or to create or maintain a participant list. The identifying-information restriction is tied specifically to firearm-ownership tracking.
Nothing in this Act, or the amendments made by this Act, may be construed to— (1) collect personally identifiable information of an individual who participates in the program under section 1720M of title 38, United States Code (as added by subsection (a)) for the purposes of tracking firearm ownership;
(6) create or maintain a list of individuals that participate in such program.
The bill would also bar interpreting it to require participants to register firearms with any level of government or to impose mandatory firearm storage. It could not be interpreted to prohibit participants’ firearm purchases, ownership, or possession under the cited federal firearms statute, or to discourage lawful ownership.
Nothing in this Act, or the amendments made by this Act, may be construed to—
(2) require any such individual to register a firearm with the Department of Veterans Affairs, or any other Federal, state, tribal or local unit of Government; (3) require mandatory firearm storage for any such individual; (4) prohibit any such individual from purchasing, owning, or possessing a firearm under section 922 of title 18, United States Code; (5) discourage the lawful ownership of firearms;
The supplied action snapshot, updated September 19, 2026, records introduction and referral to the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs on March 10, 2025, followed by referral to the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations on May 12, 2025. These entries do not establish the bill’s complete subsequent history or enactment status.
Source snapshot updated 2026-09-19T23:35:37Z. 2025-05-12: Referred to the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. 2025-03-10: Referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs. 2025-03-10: Introduced in House
A closer look
Reviewed version: Introduced in House · 2025-03-10. These findings describe provisions and who may benefit; they are not judgments of waste, corruption, or motive.
This review covers the supplied bill text. “None identified” does not rule out provisions in later versions or accompanying reports and disclosures.
Provisions outside the bill’s main subject, or policy changes attached to appropriations.
None identified in the reviewed text
No unrelated provision or policy rider was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion is limited to that version and does not establish the contents or attachment history of other versions or accompanying materials.
Spending directed to particular recipients or places outside ordinary competitive or formula-based allocation.
None identified in the reviewed text
No congressionally directed spending for particular recipients or places was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion is limited to that version; formal earmark disclosures and accompanying materials are not supplied.
Narrow exceptions, exemptions, or preferential treatment that warrant a closer look.
Findings to examine
The supplied introduced text contains a domestic manufacturing preference within the program’s product eligibility rules. This classification does not establish improper intent or an economic outcome.
The program would accept only lockboxes manufactured in the United States, giving qualifying domestic-made products preferential access to program purchases or voucher redemptions. This favors manufacturers producing qualifying lockboxes in the United States and is directly related to sourcing the program’s storage devices.
The Secretary shall carry out a program to provide to an eligible individual, upon the request of such eligible individual— (A) a covered item, or a redeemable voucher to aid in the distribution of a covered item;
The term covered item means a lockbox that—
(E) is manufactured in the United States;
Full text preserved for this analysis. Legislative record snapshot: Sep 19, 2026. How PlainBill uses AI