Bush Signs Bill Aimed at Preventing Severely Mentally Ill From Buying Guns

[babylonsister]

What do you know, he got one right. :eyes:

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2008/01/bush_signs_new_gun_bill.php

Bush signs new gun bill

Bush Signs Bill Aimed at Preventing Severely Mentally Ill From Buying Guns

ANNE FLAHERTY
AP News

Jan 08, 2008 17:27 EST

President Bush signed legislation on Tuesday aimed at preventing the severely mentally ill from buying guns, in a rare bipartisan agreement with the Democratic-led Congress after the bloody Virginia Tech shooting.

The bill authorizes up to $1.3 billion in grant money for states to improve their ability to track and report individuals who shouldn't qualify to buy a gun legally, including those involuntarily confined by a mental institution. Much of the money, to be spent over five years, would be used to increase state feeds to a national system used to run background checks on gun purchases.

New York Democrats Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Carolyn McCarthy introduced the bill in 2002 after a shooting that year in a church. But the legislation did not gain the momentum it needed until after the Virginia Tech shootings in April, and families of the victims lobbied to strengthen the law.

"Had it become law earlier, it may well have saved the lives of 32 students who were killed at Virginia Tech by another mentally ill gunman," said Schumer.

Virginia Tech gunman Seung-Hui Cho was able to pass a background check and buy two guns even though a Virginia court had deemed him mentally defective.

White House spokesman Tony Fratto said Bush strongly supports the goals of the bill.

"We saw with the terrible shootings at Virginia Tech last year that an incomplete system can have tragic consequences," Fratto said.

[C_U_L8R]

1. Thank goodness he's disarming the freepers

: - )

[SammyWinstonJack]

12. ...

:spray:

[rocktivity]

2. Is receiving them as gifts still okay?

:eyes:
rocknation

[El Supremo]

3. Did he make a signing statement excluding himself and Cheney?

(hope I was first)

[stevedeshazer]

7. Beat me to it

Not by much! :hi:

[El Supremo]

11. Looks like a tie at 4:01 MST.

:toast:

[SammyWinstonJack]

17. Oh crap! That is priceless!

:yourock:

[shadowknows69]

4. So mandatory psyche screenings for all hunters then?

[havocmom]

18. And incentive for troubled vets to NOT seek help

:grr:

[JackBeck]

5. OMG!

He's taking our guns away. He's a dirty liberal after all!

[stevedeshazer]

6. The signing statement is next....

[robbedvoter]

8. There goes his base....

[Brother_1969]

9. Now, we only need one more bill

one that classifies everyone who wants to buy a gun as severely mentally ill! Then we'll be getting somewhere.

[Vilis Veritas]

10. If Bush signed it, something ain't right...

Not trying to say it is a bad thing...I just don't trust that psycho AT ALL.

[havocmom]

19. Think of the $$ the VA will save (to be spent on Halliburton instead, my guess)

Lots of troubled vets will come home from war and NOT seek help to get themselves better after the damage the war does.

[razors edge]

24. They will do all they can

to keep guns out of the hands of those trained to use them and sent off to die for profit.

Its a win/win for the elites.

[havocmom]

25. Yep

x(

[Vilis Veritas]

32. Thanks. I knew it had to have a reason.

I loves me some DU'ers...

[OzarkDem]

13. Another gun law that won't be enforced

Unless there's oversight and a real and substantial penalty against gun dealers who break the law, its pretty meaningless. My gut instinct tells me that will be the case.

[Duer 157099]

14. This only makes sense if...

they have plans down the line to proclaim that liberals are severely mentally ill -- and don't think they won't do that!

[havocmom]

21. Consider: might not liberals be more inclined to seek help if they need it?

Freepers and chicken hawks are ALWAYS fine, it's everybody else who is fucked up. Freepers and chicken hawks probably only seek help when under court order to do so.

[melody]

15. How about one to prevent them from becoming President?

That's what's needed.

[4nic8em]

16. Bush

is a revolutionary!! He's completely disarming ALL the Republickers. Won't sit good with the NRA.

[DrDan]

20. republicans will not like this

considering their mental health . . . none will be able to buy a gun

[Greeby]

22. Uhh, he's mentally ill

And hes got a lot of weapons at his command. Hypocrisy much?

[northzax]

23. unconstitutional, from his own worldview

Citizens who have an illness do not lose their constitutional rights en masse. We don't take away their right to free speech, or religion, or to be free of having their domiciles used to barrack troops, so how can we take away their right to posess firearms? We can't.

Unless, of course, what the president is saying is that regulation is acceptable on public safety grounds, at which point municipalities can do the same, based on public health and safety grounds (which, of course, his administration claims is unconstitutional. So which is it? Inalienable constitutional right, or malleable right based on circumstance? Can't be both.

[Zorra]

26. What is the criteria for determining that someone is mentally unfit

to buy a firearm?
:shrug:

That's pretty dicey.

[Didereaux]

28. obvious first choice is membership in the republican Party, I would think?

[Didereaux]

27. did it have a 'rider' including Vice Presidents in the ban?

[hvn_nbr_2]

29. Yeah, but in the signing statement, he said....

he interprets the law to mean that they should *give* guns to psychopaths instead of letting them buy them. (Hey, he's crazy and stupid enough to do it.)

[BelgianMadCow]

30. Too late for Rumsfeld.

a pity, that.

[SalmonChantedEvening]

31. Only the criminally insane will have guns

/end Channeling Wayne LaPierre.

[I work for workers]

33. If this is the bill I'm thinking of, it gives me a whole new reason to hate Bush.

I'm squarely against any bright line law that discriminates against the mentally ill and robs them of their Second Amendment rights. Unless it's been dramatically rewritten, it is far to broad in defining whose rights will be eliminated.