House Republicans Create Open Season For Gun Purchases

House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wis. points to his copy of the Constitution as he emphasizes to reporters that the GOP’s proposed gun control measures protect Second Amendment rights, July 6, 2016(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

The newly minted majority Republican House of Representatives voted on Thursday to end the rule instituted by the Obama administration to deny gun purchases to mentally impaired individuals who receive Social Security benefits. The vote was 235–180 and declared a success for the National Rifle Association.

The repeal of the rule would allow an individual with a history of mental illness, receiving Social Security, to buy a firearm without a background check. As The Guardian noted (pictured below), the rule would affect approx. 75,000 individuals.

The Guardian on the gun control rule repeal” class=”aligncenter size-full” />Article from The Guardian on the gun control rule repeal

This is one of many repeals being brought to the table by the Congressional Review Act in order to rescind legislation by the Obama administration before they go into affect.

In defense of their ruling, Rep. Kevin Brady (R) of Texas stated, “The Social Security Administration not only overstepped its mission with this regulation, it discriminated against certain Americans with disabilities who receive Social Security benefits. The agency should be focused on serving all of its beneficiaries, not picking and choosing whose Second Amendment rights to deny,”

It is another perfect example of party over everything that we are currently seeing from the Republicans. Instead of protecting the American people from an immediate threat to public safety, Republicans have once again chosen their allegiance to the National Rifle Association. In the nearly two decades since the Columbine High School shooting in 1999, we have watched as thousands of Americans died wrongful deaths at the end of a gun in the hands of someone who should have never had one. The Republican relationship with the NRA has continually trumped their responsibility to the American people.

The rule on Social Security benefits was a step in passing legislation that would ban the purchase of firearms from those with a history of violence and mental instability — a proven factor in the string of mass shootings we have become witness to over nearly two decades.

Rep. Brady claims that the Social Security Administration should not focus on serving their beneficiaries, a statement standing in stark and hypocritical contrast to the decades of benefits the NRA has acquired through the gun lobby-funded Republican party.

The Senate is expected to pass the legislation where it will inevitably be signed by President Trump.