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Senate clears rollback of background-check rule for president's signature
The Senate voted Wednesday to overturn a rule barring gun ownership for some who have been deemed mentally impaired, clearing the measure for President Trump's signature.
The Obama-era rule required the Social Security Administration to send records of some beneficiaries to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System after they’ve been deemed incapable of managing their financial affairs because of a disabling mental disorder, ranging from anxiety to schizophrenia. The Senate voted 57—43 to rescind the rule, following House passage largely along party lines on Feb. 2.
The move is the new Congress' first effort to roll back gun regulations. The Senate needed only 51 votes for passage under the Congressional Review Act, a law that allows Congress to dismiss an outgoing administration’s recently enacted regulations.
Republicans argued the rule, which was vigorously opposed by gun-rights and disability groups, would unfairly stigmatize people with disabilities and strip them of their Second Amendment rights without due process.
"If the regulation is not repealed, it will allow the agency to very unfairly deprive Social Security recipients of their Second Amendment rights," Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the resolution's sponsor, said during Tuesday's debate on the measure.
Democrats agreed the government must not stigmatize those with disabilities but said the rule affects a small group with severe, long-term mental disorders preventing them from doing any work. Passage of the resolution puts others at risk, they said.
"This is not a situation where the Social Security Administration would notify NICS just because a person can’t balance his checkbook," Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois said Tuesday. "There must be a seriously debilitating, medically diagnosed mental illness involved."
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