Republicans Just Killed Obama’s Rule Blocking Mentally Ill From Owning Guns
The nihilistic orgy of regulation-repeal is continuing unabated in the Republican-strangled House of Representatives. Today’s target is an Obama administration regulation that would prevent Social Security recipients with mental disabilities from owning firearms.
On behest of their masters at the National Rifle Association, the appallingly irresponsible House voted 235-180 to repeal the measure. “The Obama administration’s last minute, back-door gun grab would have stripped law-abiding Americans of their Second Amendment rights without due process,” complained NRA lobbyist Chris Cox.
Some of the worst shooting massacres in American history have been committed by mentally ill perpetrators. The man who attacked a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, killing 12 and injuring 70, plead not guilty by reason of insanity; the Virginia Tech shooter, who slaughtered 32 and injured 17, had been previously declared mentally ill by a Virginia special justice. The murdered who butchered 27 at Sandy Hook Elementary also had serious mental issues.
The rule affects “an estimated 75,000 beneficiaries who require a representative to manage their benefits because of a disabling mental disorder,” according to FOX News.
So far, 1,383 Americans have died from gun violence this year, and 2,677 have been injured, according to watchdog GunViolenceArchive.org.
House Republicans this week have repealed regulations preventing coal corporations from dumping waste into rivers and streams and allowed fossil fuel companies to conceal foreign donations. They are set to repeal the Interior Department’s standards on methane emissions – an extremely damaging greenhouse gas – tomorrow.
“I don’t want to keep saying the same thing over and over. But one of the things we’ve noticed: There are mental health issues here. We’re really serious about our mental health legislation” said House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) in December 2015 after the shootings in Colorado Springs and San Bernadino.
But once again, the Republican Party has proven to be a morally vacant carnival of ideologically fluid flip-floppers who will say whatever they want and then do the exact opposite without a trace of remorse or shame.
