GOP Senator Counters Schumer Mental Health Proposal With NRA Backed Effort

Just days after N.Y. Senator Chuck Schumer and his actress cousin unveiled gun control legislation dressed up as a carrot and stick approach to get states to report more mental health information to the National Instant Check System (NICS), Texas Senator John Cornyn has come out with a counter proposal that has the dual benefit of insuring those who should be included in the NICS database are reported while at the same time protecting millions of Social Security recipients who also have a  “representative payee”, as well as veterans who aren't managing their own affairs.  From the report on Guns.com:

The Mental Health and Safe Communities Act aims to fix the existing background check system without expanding it, said U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) in his announcement of the measure. The bill also aims to bolster treatment options for mentally-ill offenders, and response and prevention plans for local officials.

“While potentially dangerous mentally-ill individuals are often known to law enforcement and local officials, gaps in existing law or inadequate resources prevent our communities from taking proactive steps to prevent them from becoming violent,” said Cornyn, who voted down legislation in 2013 to expand background checks to include online and certain private sales.

The NRA has endorsed the measure not because of recent string of high profile mass shootings but because of a push by the Obama administration that would ban Social Security beneficiaries from owning guns if they’re determined to lack the mental capacity to manage their own affairs.

“We thank Senator Cornyn for his leadership in standing up to the Obama administration and introducing legislation that will take meaningful steps toward fixing America’s broken mental health system,” said Chris Cox, executive director of the NRA’s lobbying arm.

The NRA-ILA alert notes the specific provisions of the legislation:

• The bill will stop the Obama administration’s Social Security Administration and other agencies from defining as “prohibited persons” those who meet arbitrary criteria such as having a representative payee assigned to their account.

• The bill will stop the Obama administration’s Veterans Administration (VA) from throwing veterans into NICS simply for having a fiduciary assigned to their account.

• Veterans who have been swept into NICS under previous VA rules will be given the opportunity to have their case reviewed in a full hearing. Requires a specific finding that the veteran is a danger to self or others. Veterans who are not found to be a danger will have their rights restored and will be removed from NICS.

• Requires that real adjudications take place before an individual can be determined a prohibited person under federal law. Full notice, hearing, the right to participate, and the right to counsel are required.

• Provides funding for the states to forward records of mental health adjudications which meet the new due process requirements outlined in the bill.

• Recognizes state orders restoring the firearms rights of individuals under state law.

• Requires AG to remove individuals from NICS in cases where rights have been restored or procedures failed to provide adequate due process protections, as with the VA program.

The Perils of Focusing on Mental Health and Firearms

HotAir.com has an article this morning titled Aaron Alexis and the Gun Control Mental Health Dodge.  He points to the peril in the mental health argument and how the gun ban lobby may have found an end run around simple gun control.

Better and more accessible care for the truly mentally ill is a worthwhile goal, and one which should be pursued. (And Kelly Ayotte already has a plan to do so without infringing anyone’s Second Amendment rights.) But we need to stand firm against any proposed federal legislation which purports to make everyone safer by keeping guns out of the hands of (or confiscating them from!!!) the mentally ill. That last sentence is sure to set the hair of many liberals afire, but there’s a reason for this sense of caution. You see, we already know where that path leads because we’ve seen the terminus of it in the state of New York, and it’s a nightmare.

Shaw is referring to what happened after the "NY Safe Act" became law when a man was confronted by police at the front door of his home and having his guns confiscated under threat of arrest.

The reason for the showdown was that authorities had mistaken him for somebody else who had committed the sin of seeking medical help and receiving medication for depression at one point in the past.

Shaw concludes that the nation already has a system in place for defining those who are too "deranged" to own firearms, that involves having people adjudicated as such in a court of law with the opportunity to defend themselves and challenge the finding if they wish.  We need to gaurd against any law that purports to protect all of us by further expanding who is mentally ill.  If the gun ban lobby had their way, they would classify anyone who wants to own a firearm as "mentally ill."

Hat tip to VSSA's Executive Director who forwarded the Hotair.com article.

Durbin Says Manchin/Schumer/Toomey Might Have Stopped Navy Yard Shooter From Getting Firearm

Based on what we know, (and admittedly the media has done a terrible job of getting the facts straight), the Navy Yard shooter legally purchased his shotgun after undergoing a background check at the firearm retailer.  So, this comment by Illinois U.S. Senator Dick Durbin's reported in The Hill make's absolutely no sense:

Durbin, who is Reid’s top deputy, suggested on Tuesday morning that a measure to expand background checks — which the Senate defeated in April — might have prevented the shooting.

From my recollection, Manchin/Schumer/Toomey was to make sure all (or almost all) firearm transfer's went through a background check.  The Navy Yard shooter did submit to a background check and passed.  So, how exactly might Manchin/Toomey/Schumer prevented him from getting his firearm?

The shooter had several run-ins with the police in the last 10 years, none of which were prosecuted, or at least charged at a level that would make him a prohibited buyer.  Given these facts, even if Manchin/Toomey/Schumer had passed, it would have had no impact on the shooter's ability to purchase his firearm.  Second, it appears that the shooter had mental health issues - again, to my recollection, something not addressed by Manchin/Toomey/Schumer.  Charles Krauthammer discussed the mental health issue last night on Fox News.

For some reason, Congress does not want to address the mental health issue although that was supposed to have been one of the issues addressed after Newtown.  The administration and their allies in the Senate decided to focus only on gun control and when they lost that battle in April, moved on to other unrelated issues.

Jim Geraghty this morning pretty much summed-up why the renewed talk of gun control after Monday's murders rings particularly hollow:

I begin rather skeptical of most gun-control proposals. The ones that are pitched in the aftermath of mass shootings are particularly cynical, as they often attempt to regulate circumstances unrelated to the shooting.

And that is exactly the problem with all of this talk of background checks.  The shooter went through a background check and passed.  Nothing in the proposal from this past spring would have changed that.

Joe Biden Said Background Checks Are Important Because of Virginia Tech Shooter

At the end of the below NBC29 story on yesterday's meeting that Joe Biden held on gun control at VCU, they reference Biden's comment regarding how important background checks are because of the Virginia Tech shooter.  Biden said he should not have been able to get a firearm.  Problem is, the shooter did undergo background checks before purchasing his firearms.  It was a breakdown in the court system, not the lack of a background check that allowed the shooter to get the firearms he used in the attack.
NBC29 WVIR Charlottesville, VA News, Sports and Weather
Since then, the law has changed at both the state and federal level to enhance the mental health information reported to the National Instant Background Check System (NICS). Virginia, by-the-way, leads the nation in reporting mental health information to the NICS.