On Thursday, the United States House of Representatives approved H.J.Res. 40. The legislation prohibits the imposition of regulations published in December that define a process for placing individuals, who the Social Security Administration unilaterally determines have sufficient mental health problems, into the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) database so the government may restrain them from purchasing and possessing guns. The regulations, which had been in the works for years, would breach the privacy of affected individuals, while also denying respect for their due process rights and their constitutionally protected right to bear arms.
To reach President Donald Trump for approval or a veto, the legislation must first pass in the US Senate as well.
The House action is welcomed by many advocates for respecting individual rights. But, it is a relatively small step. Remaining in place, even should H.J.Res. 40 become law, is the NICS Improvements Amendments Act (HR 2640) that provided the authority under which the regulations H.J.Res. 40 overrides were created. When HR 2640 was considered on the House floor in 2007, then-Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) warned of the rights violations it would spawn. In his floor speech, Paul stated that HR 2640 “pressures States and mandates Federal agencies to dump massive amounts of information about the private lives of all Americans into a central Federal Government database” and “seriously undermines the privacy rights of all Americans, gun owners and non-gun owners alike.”