Feb 2017 - 45* Signs Bill Revoking Obama-Era Gun Checks for People With Mental Illnesses

[groundloop]

I posted this in another thread. After swirling it around in my brain for a few minutes I think it deserves its own thread, so here goes.

From CBS News this morning:

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/trump-suggests-fla-shooting-suspect-mentally-disturbed-53108213

Trump cites mental health in shooting, no mention of guns

President Donald Trump struck a solemn tone Thursday after the deadly school shooting in Florida, describing a "scene of terrible violence, hatred and evil" and promising to "tackle the difficult issue of mental health," but avoiding any mention of guns.

Taking up the now-familiar ritual of public consolation after terrible violence, Trump spoke from the White House Diplomatic Room. In a slow, deliberate style, he sought to reassure a troubled nation as well as students' families and shooting survivors in Florida.



From NBC News Feb 28, 2017

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trump-signs-bill-revoking-obama-era-gun-checks-people-mental-n727221

Trump Signs Bill Revoking Obama-Era Gun Checks for People With Mental Illnesses

President Donald Trump quietly signed a bill into law Tuesday rolling back an Obama-era regulation that made it harder for people with mental illnesses to purchase a gun.

The rule, which was finalized in December, added people receiving Social Security checks for mental illnesses and people deemed unfit to handle their own financial affairs to the national background check database.

Had the rule fully taken effect, the Obama administration predicted it would have added about 75,000 names to that database.

President Barack Obama recommended the now-nullified regulation in a 2013 memo following the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, which left 20 first graders and six others dead. The measure sought to block some people with severe mental health problems from buying guns.


_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

WHEN IN THE HELL ARE WE GOING TO SAY ENOUGH IS ENOUGH AND DEMAND THAT OUR DAMNED CONGRESS CRITTERS GET OFF THEIR ASSES AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS?

Yeah, I guess in a way I'm part of the problem because I'm becoming numb to this madness like everyone else. I'm a gun owner (ONE .22 rifle which I've had since I was a teenager) - I'm so fucking sick of this gun violence killing innocent children that I'm on the verge of taking my one and only gun to my garage and smashing the shit out of it and turning it into a monument against gun violence.

[Gothmog]

1. It is hard to take trump seriously on mental illness and guns

[Lee-Lee]

2. Except thats not what it actually did

The rule said that anyone who had a representative payee for Social Security payments was presumed to be mentally defective and therefore a prohibited person.

It provided no actual diagnoses and wasn’t based on any diagnoses or any real mental health evidence or facts. Just if you were someone who had a representative payee it was presumed you were mentally defective to the point of barring firearms ownership.

It provided for no due process in arriving at that decsion, or to appeal it, or any other appeals process. It did not do any review of cases to see what ones were assigned a representative payee because of real mental ilness of if there were other reasons.

It was such a bad law even the ACLU opposed it and all your disability rights groups and mental health advocacy groups largely opposed it because it blanket denied rights to people without due process.

[groundloop]

6. That's in contrast to what I've read

From the linked article:

added people receiving Social Security checks for mental illnesses and people deemed unfit to handle their own financial affairs to the national background check database.

[Lee-Lee]

10. Its been widely misrepresented

Here is a direct link to the ACLU and their reasons for opposing it:

https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/field_document/hr_3516_endorsement_final.pdf

[groundloop]

15. In this case I believe the ACLU was wrong

Here's more information:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/white-house-refused-to-release-photo-of-trump-signing-bill-to-weaken-gun-law/


The NRA release says that had the Obama rule been allowed to move ahead it "would have resulted in 75,000 Social Security recipients who use a representative payee losing their Second Amendment rights without due process." But in fact, the rule applied to Social Security recipients who weren't able to manage their affairs because of "marked subnormal intelligence, or mental illness, incompetency, condition, or disease."

[Kingofalldems]

12. If the repeal is so great howcome Trump won't release pics of the signing?

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/white-house-refused-to-release-photo-of-trump-signing-bill-to-weaken-gun-law/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab7e&linkId=48165713

[Gothmog]

3. From my twitter feed

Link to tweet

[Laffy Kat]

4. This should be shouted from the rooftops. nt

[Gothmog]

5. Trumps remarks on tackling mental health ring hollow for too many reasons

Link to tweet

[Control-Z]

7. In a slow deliberate style?

That's trouble reading, not style, ffs.

[yallerdawg]

8. The one true thing about Republicans...

is that they are not who they say they are.

Proven over and over and over and over.

[Marengo]

9. The repeal was fully supported by the ACLU and disabled rights advocacy organizations

[TenHouseCats]

13. Links, please? nt

[Marengo]

14. Easy, here are a couple from the first page of a Google search...

https://www.aclu.org/blog/disability-rights/gun-control-laws-should-be-fair

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/16/nra-republicans-gun-control-science

[Gothmog]

11. From my twitter feed

Link to tweet