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The Obama administration on Friday announced executive orders designed to keep weapons from the mentally ill, putting the NRA on the spot after their vague assertions after the Sandy Hook massacre that the real issue was a lack of adequate mental health care in the United States.
According to The Hill, the plan includes two proposed regulations: one would clarify who may possess guns, while the second seeks to shore up a porous national background check system.
“While the vast majority of Americans who experience a mental illness are not violent, in some cases when persons with a mental illness do not receive the treatment they need, the result can be tragedies such as homicide or suicide,” a White House statement said.
In the aftermath of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings, President Obama announced plans to move forward with nearly two dozen initiatives to curb gun violence but all of the proposed bills were derailed by opposition from the NRA and other gun groups.
The Hill reports that the measures announced Friday include a new effort to strengthen the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).
Currently, gun dealers are required to use the system to screen for felons, drug abusers, the severely mentally ill or others who are prohibited from owning firearms. But the database is woefully incomplete.
Both EO’s address the ability of states to provide information about the mentally ill and those seeking mental health treatment to the NCIS.
One proposal would formally give permission to states to submit "the limited information necessary to help keep guns out of potentially dangerous hands," without having to worry about the privacy provisions in the law known as HIPAA.
The other proposal would clarify that those who are involuntarily committed to a mental institution -- both inpatient and outpatient -- count under the law as "committed to a mental institution." According to the administration, this change will help clarify for states what information to provide to the background check system, as well as who is barred from having guns. On Twitter, the initial response from many gun rights advocates was that Obama had engaged in a quiet, Friday afternoon unveiling of more gun restrictions.
At the conservative website Townhall.com, their report on the new developments included this:“Always be wary of the phrase ‘common-sense gun safety,’ especially when it comes from gun control advocates. No ‘common-sense’ gun control law has ever reduced crime or mass shootings. If advocates have to tell you they aren't infringing on your Second Amendment rights, they are probably infringing on your Second Amendment rights.”
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