Along with Planned Parenthood, the American Civil Liberties Union was among those organizations enjoying a windfall of donations following the election of Donald Trump, not to mention high-profile support: blue ACLU ribbons were the must-have accessory at this year’s Oscars.
Still, the ACLU has an ugly secret that liberals either don’t know or don’t want to talk about: it and the NRA found some common ground when it came to that legislation that tied Social Security Administration data into background checks and made some disturbingly broad assumptions about mental fitness.
It’s not much more complicated than that, although liberals like Rachel Maddow — exactly whom you’d think would champion due process and fight the stigmatization of the mentally ill as violent — couldn’t stop squawking that the striking of Obama-era legislation was intended “specifically for mentally ill people to get guns.”
It looks like it took a couple of weeks for Bette Midler to catch up on the liberal narrative, and she’s put the ACLU on notice.
So #ACLU thinks it's an infringement of rights to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill. Huh. I think I'll cancel that check.
— Bette Midler (@BetteMidler) March 6, 2017
First, by all means, cancel that check. Second, if the Obama administration’s legislation was meant to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill, it did so in perhaps the most broad yet least effective way possible, even setting aside little things like due process. Who knew that receiving financial management assistance was an indicator of “severe mental illness”?
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Broad term, "mentally ill". Broader is it's used as stereo type. Not all who are mentally ill are dysfunctional. #ignorance
— Shady Mitt (@Shady_Mitt) March 6, 2017
It way of labeling people so they can take away their rights.
— Suzi ♫ (@MessMakerPro) March 6, 2017
it's a due process concern.
— Chloé (@ChloDubs) March 6, 2017
The unrefined definition of law against gun ownership is a direct attack on civil rights of persons with mental health issues.
— Kamala 2020 (@TLDRJones) March 6, 2017
@MatthewModine Their point is just that this reinforces stigma against mental illness without backing data.
— (((R?r?n_St☠️hl)))¯_(ツ)_/¯ (@Roran_Stehl) March 6, 2017
There's more to it than that. Please don't have knee-jerk reaction; read more about it. I'm for gun control & I agree w/ them
— Kara (@KLH128) March 6, 2017
https://twitter.com/greenflagfly/status/838783411183497217
vast majority who suffer from mental illness are not violent, and rights should not be restricted bc of just any diagnosis.
— Carlo Ferrandino (@GoNotQuietly) March 6, 2017
Or, in this case, no diagnosis. A lot of Midler’s followers seem to have done their research on this one.
ACLU was against SSDI & SSI recipients being required to register with NICS due to mental impairment – Big Difference IMO
— Diana Prince (@LassoTruth) March 6, 2017
https://twitter.com/Crazy4RedSox/status/838771071344132096
https://twitter.com/Crazy4RedSox/status/838771452740571137
Oh man, now Shannon Watts of Moms Demand Action is conflicted.
The ACLU does amazing work, but they're wrong on this. When you're with the NRA, you're on the wrong side.
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) March 6, 2017
“When you’re with the NRA, you’re on the wrong side?” Wow, that’s absurdly simplistic — but then again, she’s tweeting Bette Midler.
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Related:
Cher, Rachel Maddow triggered by vote they claim will arm the severely mentally ill; Dana Loesch schools https://t.co/aHMW94lMYn
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) February 14, 2017
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