Match words to actions

On February 18th, 4 days after the high school massacre in Parkland, Florida, Congressman Ryan Costello issued his regular email version of Ryan’s Report.

In the report, Mr. Costello recited the usual platitudes that politicians automatically utter after yet another mass murder occurs.

He went on however to suggest several steps that Congress could take to try and bring an end to the slaughter.

For instance, he said that “We must appropriately fund and support federal programs already in place such as the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.

There is no excuse for these critical programs not to be operational, effective and current”.

He also said that improvements needed to be made to mental health treatment programs, which suggested that he recognized that people with mental health issues might not be the best candidates for gun ownership.

Unfortunately, when he had the chance to actually vote to improve the effectiveness of the NCIS specifically with reference to mentally impaired individuals, he chose not to do so.

He was one of 235 members of the House who voted to repeal a Social Security Administration (SSA) rule which required the SSA to provide the identity information of severely mentally impaired disability recipients to the NCIS.

The SSA implemented the rule as a result of an Executive Order issued by President Obama in response to the Sandy Hook massacre.

Mr. Obama believed that it didn’t make a lot of sense that people who were severely mentally impaired should nevertheless have an absolute right to buy an AR-15.

The rule required the SSA to provide identification information to the NCIS.

Once this information was put into the NCIS database, the system would red flag an SSA beneficiary with a severe mental disability if they attempted to purchase a firearm.

The rule did not ultimately prohibit the disabled individual from owning a firearm, but the individual would have to be able to demonstrate that he or she did not pose a threat to themselves or others.

The rule only applied to “a benefit recipient who has been declared unable to manage their own affairs due to marked subnormal intelligence or mental illness, incompetence, condition or disease.”

In other words, individuals who suffered from mental conditions that would “prevent a person from doing any gainful activity, regardless of age, education or work experience…. individuals whose impairments are the most severely disabled individuals we serve”.

In short, if you were a severely mentally impaired individual who qualified for disability payments, and your disability payments were being made to a third person because you were so far gone that you couldn’t manage your own affairs.

Then your identification information would be sent to the NCIS and you wouldn’t be able to just walk into Walmart, buy a killing machine off the shelf, and start blasting away.

Regardless of where you stand generally on the subject of gun control, the notion that anyone with a mental infirmity so significant that they cannot engage in ANY gainful activity that renders them unable to take care of themselves, should nevertheless have an unconditional right to purchase a firearm is simply galactically stupid.

Only someone suffering from such an impairment, or members of Congress, could think otherwise.

And so, in their haste to undo all things Obama, House Republicans, including Mr. Costello, voted to repeal the rule.

The Republican controlled Senate voted in lock step with the House of Representatives.

Throughout the whole sorry spectacle, not a single Republican voice was heard to suggest that perhaps people with severe mental deficiencies shouldn’t have an unqualified right to purchased a gun.

Perhaps the next time, Mr. Costello’s vote will comport with his words.

William Mitman West Chester