Let’s recap for those who may have forgotten the fight over this. When an American suffers from a severe mental illness, to the point that he or she receives disability benefits through the Social Security Administration, there are a variety of limits created to help protect that person and his or her interests. These folks cannot, for example, go to a bank to cash a check on their own.
There was also a federal policy in place to prevent that person from purchasing a gun. There was a mechanism in place for this reason: the Social Security Administration would report the names of those who receive disability benefits due to severe mental illness to the FBI’s background-check system.
Last year, none other than Chuck Grassley sponsored legislation to block that reporting. It passed the Republican-led Congress exactly one year ago today, with the unanimous support of every GOP senator, along with four red-state Democrats and an independent.
And so, we’re left with a curious dynamic: Iowa’s Chuck Grassley’s response to mass shootings is to add those with mental impairments to the FBI database, despite the fact that Iowa’s Chuck Grassley’s made it easier for those with mental impairments to buy guns by keeping their names off the FBI database.
