Protect our Veterans Memorials Act of 2005

H.R. 1988, the Protect our Veterans Memorials Act of 2005, sought to expand federal legal protections for monuments honoring military veterans. Under this bill, the federal government would have gained the authority to prosecute individuals for the damage or destruction of veterans' memorials located on state or local government property, rather than just those on federal land. For citizens, this meant that acts of vandalism against local community war memorials could be investigated and penalized as federal crimes.