Congress Members Oppose Efforts to Deny Social Security Recipients’ Gun Rights
Safeguarding Social Security Beneficiaries’ Second Amendment Rights
Nineteen members of the U.S. House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee have challenged plans by the Obama administration to provide the names of disabled Social Security beneficiaries to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). This would result in the classification of these beneficiaries as “prohibited persons” who are not allowed to acquire firearms. The Representatives say this proposal would violate the spirit of the Americans with Disability Act and threaten the Constitutional rights of law-abiding older Americans.
In their joint letter to the Commissioner of the Social Security Administration, the Representatives argue convincingly that plans to classify older citizens as “prohibited persons” for NICS purposes is unconstitutional:
It has come to our attention that the Social Security Administration is considering a policy to provide the names of Social Security beneficiaries who have a “representative payee” to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) in an effort to limit [their] Second Amendment rights. This would be a dangerous overreach, and we urge you to abandon any such plan.
The representative payee system is vital for beneficiaries who need assistance managing their own finances. Millions of responsible seniors and people with disabilities rely on a representative payee. Simply using this system does not mean beneficiaries are a risk to themselves or others.
Providing information on individuals who have a representative payee to the NICS is a broad overreach of authorities and violates beneficiaries’ constitutional rights. This policy runs counter to the aims of the American with Disabilities Act (ADA)[.]
Old age or a disability doesn’t make someone a threat to society. Having a representative payee should not be grounds to revoke constitutional rights. We strongly urge you to halt any steps to provide information on Social Security beneficiaries or Supplemental Security Income recipients to the NICS.
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Just say you don’t have any, non compliance.. (legal advice maybe better sought elsewhere).
Editor: That won’t really work. The plan hatched by the Social Security Administration would brand large numbers of Social Security recipients as “Prohibited Persons” under NICs. This would prevent them from acquiring guns in the first place.
And so begins the disarming of lawful Americans …. already have lots of veterans on the list for NICs. Sadly its going to take Civil War II to fix most of what is wrong now.
No Michael, I don’t believe we need another Civil War. What we need is to get rid of people like our current administration and not elect more of them.
It’s a fine line for sure but I’d think most would agree that having a sound mind is a prerequisite for safe firearm ownership.
If you’re incapable of handling your financial affairs (primarily a cognitive issue) you may not be safe to yourself or others.
Probably won’t make it past Appropriations anyway…