Friday, March 23, 2018

Republican spending bill re-empowers agencies, not just courts, to decide if someone is competent to buy a gun or possess one

Reported here:

Unfortunately, the spending bill passed Thursday allows the ban to be reinstituted because it reauthorizes the 2007 National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) Improvement Amendments Act. This act allowed government agencies, not just the courts, to determine if someone is mentally incompetent to buy or possess a gun.

House Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions, R-Texas, said during testimony late Wednesday that he was “disturbed” that the bill would undo part of Republicans’ good work. But by Thursday morning, the House leadership had decided to go ahead with the measure.

Despite the name Fix-NICS, the bill is likely to cause more problems than it is worth.