BREAKING: Congress Moves Forward With Reinstating Gun Rights For Those on Social Security

Earlier this month, the House of Representatives voted to scrap a regulation put in place by the Obama administration requiring a background check for Social Security recipients mentally incapable of managing their own affairs.

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Today, the Senate voted 57 to 43 to eliminate the regulation. Independent Sen. Angus King (ME) and Democratic Sens. Joe Donnelly (IN), Joe Manchin (WV), Jon Tester (MT) and Heidi Heitkamp (ND) voted with Republicans.

Before the Senate voted on the issue, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) took to the floor to explain his reason for wanting to throw out the regulation:

…The agency regulation is defective in many ways. Namely, the regulation does not require the agency to prove a person is dangerous or mentally ill. The regulation also provides NO formal hearing or due process before a person is reported to the gun ban list.

Supporters of the gun ban have said that repeal of this regulation will interfere with enforcement of gun prohibition laws—but that is hogwash. We should not let baseless scare tactics confuse this important issue.

Important federal gun laws are still on the books even if the agency rule is repealed. We aren’t repealing any laws.

The new regulation is inconsistent with existing federal gun laws.

The agency still has a duty to report anyone who has actually been adjudicated as dangerously mentally ill to the gun ban list. That is also true of anyone convicted of a felony or a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence or involuntarily committed to a mental institution.

…Repealing this regulation will ensure that disabled citizen’s Second Amendment rights are protected. Those rights will no longer be able to be revoked without a hearing and without due process. It will take more than the personal opinion of a bureaucrat.
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Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), an outspoken gun control advocate, told the Huffington Post why he’s against the repeal:

“The Republicans are so hypocritical on this issue,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who became an outspoken critic of gun violence after the Sandy Hook massacre in his state. “They constantly say we should be enforcing existing law, and then they are, at the same time, rewriting the law so that fewer people will be put on the criminal background check system.”

It is important to note that the bill has bipartisan support. Groups, such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), believed the rule was used to undermine people’s Constitutional rights.
Of course, Shannon Watts of Moms Demand Action, instantly blamed the NRA and the “gun lobby” for the decision in one of her infamous Twitter rants.

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