If there’s one thing we’ve learned from the past 24 hours, it’s that the mainstream media takes its talking points on gun control directly from organizations like Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand.
That statistic about “18” school shootings so far this year that’s been spread by just about every mainstream media outlet? It’s bogus, and it comes directly from Everytown.
And the talking point that President Trump rolled back an Obama-era regulation preventing the “severely mentally ill” from purchasing guns? That too is being twisted in the news, and it’s being spread by people like Moms Demand founder Shannon Watts.
Reminder: The first action Donald Trump took as President was to roll back a safety measure that prevented severely mentally ill Americans from buying guns: https://t.co/8oFRE7H0jd #gunreformnow
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) February 15, 2018
That's a damn lie, and you know it. https://t.co/5EvtPppOao
— marvelousLIE (@marvelous_lie) February 15, 2018
This is a lie, the change did not effect anyone legally found to be mentally ill. https://t.co/r6FlhouyWF
— Chris Talbot (@ChrisPTalbot) February 15, 2018
Notice how from the very beginning, gun control advocates like Cher and Rachel Maddow have felt the need to say the Obama regulation prevented the “severely” mentally ill or the “seriously” mentally ill from buying guns? Watts does the same thing: it was a safety measure that prevented “severely mentally ill” Americans from buying guns.
As many have already mentioned, that claim is bogus, and gun grabbers never fail to overlook that even the ACLU supported Trump’s rollback.
Even the NBC News article to which Watts links makes absolutely no mention of “severely mentally ill” people, but rather “people receiving Social Security checks for mental illnesses and people deemed unfit to handle their own financial affairs” being entered into the national background check database.
In other words, the Social Security database was used in place of due process; that is, having a medical professional determine if a person was mentally fit to own a weapon.
Can we please stop trying to classify people as “severely mentally ill” without an examination just to chip away at gun rights? Please?
Yes. His first action as president was to protect due process. You can’t arbitrarily strip someone of their constitutional rights. And more importantly, doctors should not have the power decide who gets to exercise their 2nd amendment rights. They’re doctors, not judges. https://t.co/aFo7TVkKj5
— The Green Grapist (@TheGreenGrapist) February 15, 2018
What NBC News article doesn’t tell you: The ACLU supporting Trump’s action because the rule 'would do little to stem gun violence but do much to harm our civil rights.’https://t.co/BOGhOIyU23 https://t.co/vOOrSIjLMz
— johnny dollar (@johnnydollar01) February 15, 2018
Reminder : the "measure" of which you speak was not limited to the "severely mentally ill". Even the ACLU said as much. https://t.co/VipFb35vbg
— (((Common Paul Nehlen Man))) (@hydar) February 15, 2018
This is a lie. A lie. ACLU supported this action because the rule was clearly a 5th amendment violation. https://t.co/ELwLmPqx9i
— ماكسويل maxwell (@mu_alpha_xi) February 15, 2018
Umm read the actual Bill. It had very little to do with any kind of mental illness and everything to do with trying to make it where older people can’t defend and protect themselves. It was background checks on anyone receiving Social Security not mentally ill. https://t.co/yy2y3XP2N4
— Mitchell (@BigOMitchell) February 15, 2018
Reminder: not all mental illness is equal, and without due process, you shouldn't be prohibited from exercising your Constitutional rights.
A social services check can be pushed on someone without their knowledge or permission.
THAT'S why this regulation was nullified. https://t.co/iwa0wdVDlb
— Claire (@abettergeek) February 15, 2018
I'm sure she means well but by distorting the true nature of this bill – also opposed by the ACLU – she makes the discussion more contentious and less effective. https://t.co/B5k4iWGoqU https://t.co/cTcRxZwBJh
— robert smith (@Robert26Smith) February 15, 2018
We’re not certain she means well at all — otherwise she wouldn’t use words like “severely” to deliberately mischaracterize the nature of the rule.
Related:
‘This is a LIE’! Media get BUSTED for spreading this BOGUS gun control narrative (again)
Surprise! Rachel Maddow’s STILL spreading B.S. about GOP arming ‘seriously mentally ill people’
‘GOOD WORK’! WaPo ‘completely CRUSHES’ Everytown’s bogus school shootings stat
