House Republicans overturned an Obama-era rule requiring the Social Security Administration to report anyone unable to manage their own finances to the FBI’s background check database. It was deemed that the ability to manage one’s own finances was a suitable proxy to identify the severely mentally ill. Supporters of the rule say it helped to plug holes in the background check system. Critics say the rule infringed on a person’s constitutional rights without due process. What do you think?
PERSPECTIVES
Critics say the law infringes on a person’s Second Amendment right without due process. It is not the place for some unelected bureaucrat to say who gets full rights and who does not.
“The Obama administration’s last minute, back-door gun grab would have stripped law-abiding Americans of their Second Amendment rights without due process,” said Chris Cox, the NRA’s top lobbyist.
MORE: House votes to overturn Obama gun rule
The move by then-President Obama aimed to plug holes in the system that allowed mentally ill people to obtain guns and then commit horrific acts of violence.
In Newtown, 20 children and six educators were shot to death when a gunman entered the Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14, 2012. The gunman had earlier killed his mother inside their home, and he used a gun and ammunition that she had purchased. His mental health problems have been extensively reported since the shooting.
Democrats said Republicans were doing the bidding of the National Rifle Association, which opposed the Social Security Administration’s rule. Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., said his constituents have a right not to be victims of gun violence.
thetylt.com
So, mentally ill is good to be armed with a gun… but a perfectly sane woman can’t decide for herself about her body. GOTCHA.
— Stephen (@SKHORROCKS) February 2, 2017
What the what?!?! Why would you allow someone who is mentally ill to own a gun? https://t.co/0DpwYuaR6F
— Jason Collins (@jasoncollins98) February 2, 2017
@ajplus Wait – so now the GOP doesn’t care if mentally ill people get guns? Until today they said they were the sole cause of gun violence.
— Red Six (@callipygian4lyf) February 2, 2017 thetylt.com
This is wildly misleading. House rolled back one rule that was much-criticized by doctors and disability advocates. https://t.co/X3G6GU1mWr
— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) February 2, 2017
It was a bad idea from the start, not only on separation of powers grounds, but on the merits. The background check system remains in place.
— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) February 2, 2017
The rule, for those interested, cast as mentally incapable anyone who couldn’t manage his own finances. It was criticized on Left and Right.
— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) February 2, 2017
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