House Votes to Cancel Obama Gun-Grab

As his presidency was in its last days, Mr. Obama took advantage of the opportunity to continue his efforts to chip away at rights guaranteed by the Second Amendment, this time the rights of some of those who receive Social Security benefits. As a president who was hostile to the private ownership of guns, this comes as no surprise. What is nice, however, is that after the recent elections, many of Obama’s power-grabs are on being rolled back, either by Congress or by President Trump.

Here’s the good news:

The House voted Thursday to cancel an Obama administration rule that would have had Social Security add names from its files to the list of people prohibited from buying guns in the national background check system.

Under the rule, which got final approval as President Obama was heading out the door in December, the Social Security Administration was instructed to scour its records to spot people who were so mentally impaired that their checks were sent to a payment representative. Those names were then to be entered in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).

The GOP-controlled House voted 235-180, breaking down almost entirely along party lines, to kill the new rule using the Congressional Review Act, which gives Capitol Hill a chance to swat down a lame-duck president’s last-minute regulations.

The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee makes a good point:

“This rule is a slap in the face of those in the disabled community because it paints all those who suffer from mental disorders with the same broad brush,” said Rep. Robert W. Goodlatte, Virginia Republican and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

He said people who suffer from mental disorders are more likely to be crime victims, not perpetrators.

And now it’s up to the Senate to take action.

Sen. Charles E. Grassley, Iowa Republican, has introduced a Senate version of the gun-rule repeal.

This is a very subjective rule, and it could be very easy to anticipate an anti-gun Social Security Administration interpreting this rule in the broadest terms, thereby depriving disabled Americans of the Second Amendment rights for no good reason.

Hopefully, the Senate will move quickly to get this legislation to President Trump.

Source: Washington Times