Now Kurt Eichenwald is claiming the GOP passed a law last year to let the mentally ill buy guns

Twitchy has done so many posts on this subject that we hesitate to do one more, but here we are doing one more, because now Newsweek’s Kurt Eichenwald is seizing on a fiction that’s had way too much traction among celebrities and media figures for a year now.

Remind all those GOPrs who are now saying the answer to school shootings is dealing with mental illness: They are the SAME people who last year passed a law to give the mentally ill the ability to buy guns.

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 20, 2018

As we said in our post where Moms Demand founder Shannon Watts made the same claim, there was no “law” passed under President Trump giving the “severely mentally ill” the right to purchase firearms. As we also mentioned, both the NRA and the ACLU supported the rollback of Obama-era rules that denied individuals due process.

This person managed to sum up the truth in one tweet:

No. They didn't.
What they did do in fact was repeal a last minute Obama rule which took rights away from social security recipients who had financial advisors or agents.
Without adjudication as mentally unfit.
Learn to read. https://t.co/MooNXPwWX1

— Patrick Johnson (@CBodhar) February 20, 2018

And that absence of due process is why even the ACLU supported the rollback.

You are lying. No other way to put it. Taking someone's ability to exercise their Second Amendment right without due process was the rule that was overturned. And the worst part is…you know it's true! https://t.co/1EwkLiH8kO

— Sean O (@Sean_O_914) February 20, 2018

Demonstrably false. https://t.co/52glOUcvrK

— Sexiest Jedi Alive (@LaBeardGuy) February 20, 2018

Not true. Even the ACLU disagrees with you. The rule applied only to a small subset of senior citizens – about 75,000 – who require help managing their Social Security benefits. A disability in that regard isn’t the same as mental illness. https://t.co/Wt2ZGrZ5Dj

— Mike “Quid Pro” Kilo (@Mike___Kilo) February 20, 2018

Only if you define mentally ill as “social security recipient who has someone help them manage their finances.” https://t.co/FntD2Dzf4W

— Erik Soderstrom (@soderstrom) February 20, 2018

Social security recipients who use a money manager are “mentally ill” ? https://t.co/aGraimyDoN

— Vanessa (@NessaAdelaide) February 20, 2018

Under the Obama rule, yes.

Another lie. No law but an EO that reversed an Obama EO that even the ACLU opposed.

I'm certain you knew that but chose to lie to your followers instead. https://t.co/dSnoyCexAM

— Al (@ancienthacker) February 20, 2018

https://twitter.com/hudsonside/status/966061082153553921

Reminding @KurtEichenwald that this is a completely untrue statement. Ensuring people have due process is not the same thing as what you are stating. You know this and therefore are deliberately lying. https://t.co/Y0o3wJlAqt

— Chris Loesch (@ChrisLoesch) February 20, 2018

This disgusting human being is either lying, or he’s advertising his pure, unadulterated ignorance on social media. I’m genuinely not sure which one it is. https://t.co/1B0IAmsx35

— Dan Bongino (@dbongino) February 20, 2018

How? Please explain… can you reference the bill or say… it’s text? https://t.co/7XlGHLk3yz

— Johnny (Joey) Jones (@Johnny_Joey) February 20, 2018

I’ll debate you on this anytime you’re ready @FoxNews @cnn you pick. You don’t get to spread lies unchecked. https://t.co/7XlGHLk3yz

— Johnny (Joey) Jones (@Johnny_Joey) February 20, 2018

This statement is pure BS and you know it is but by all means use whatever methods to push your agenda https://t.co/4mmH9liUht

— j coop (@bambam6770) February 20, 2018

Eichenwald joins Watts, Cher, Bette Midler, and Rachel Maddow, all of whom have pushed this lie over the past year.