How did Ariz. reps vote on key gun rule?

Given America’s latest heartbreak — in which a clearly troubled young man grabbed his trusty AR-15 and massacred 17 people — it seems a good time to recall that it was this time last year that our leaders in Washington were voting to make it easier for some of the mentally ill to get guns.

I was reminded of that this morning, when a reader texted me this question: “Laurie, do you know who in our congressional delegation voted to lessen the restrictions?”

I didn’t when he asked. But I do now, and it makes me want to vomit. More on that in a minute.

First, some background. President Donald Trump hadn’t been in office even a month when the move began to roll back restrictions on gun ownership for certain people who suffer from mental illness.

Specifically, to repeal a December 2016 rule that would have required the Social Security Administration to notify the National Instant Criminal Background Check System — the FBI database used to determine whether someone can buy a gun — when it deems someone mentally incapable of managing his or her financial affairs. The rule, had it taken effect, would have affected about 75,000 people who get disability and supplemental insurance income due to a mental disability.

It would not have affected Nikolas Cruz, the 19-year-old who turned Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in Parkland, Florida, into a killing field. The kid who was barred from carrying a backpack on campus but welcome to walk the streets with an AR-15.

About the same time Congress was rolling back the rule that would have prevented some mentally disturbed people from buying guns, Cruz was buying the preferred weapon of mass murderers. (See: Adam Lanza, 27 dead at an elementary school, Newtown, Connecticut; James Holmes, 12 dead at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado; Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, 14 dead in a social-service office in San Bernardino, California; David Patrick Kelley, 26 dead at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas; Stephen Paddock, 58 dead at an outdoor concert in Las Vegas.)

One would think that given the carnage in this country, we’d be looking for ways to at least try to make sure that those who suffer from mental problems can’t walk into a gun store and pick up a killing machine.

That, however, would run counter to the wishes of the National Rifle Association, which called the effort to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill “the Obama administration’s backdoor gun grab.”

The NRA argued that the rule stripped vulnerable people of the right to keep and bear arms without due process and would have discouraged

those suffering mental distress from seeking help.

Much better, apparently, to make it easy for them to get guns.

And so the rule was repealed under the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to dismiss actions an outgoing administration initiated in its last six months.

House Joint Resolution 40 was introduced by Rep. Sam Johnson, R-Texas, and had 120 co-sponsors. Among them: Arizona GOP Reps. Trent Franks, Paul Gosar, Martha McSally and David Schweikert.

It passed, 235-180. Six Democrats voted for the bill, including two from Arizona.

Voting for the bill: Republicans Andy Biggs, Gosar, Schweikert, Franks and McSally, and Democrats Kyrsten Sinema and Tom O’Halleran.

Voting against the bill: Democrats Raul Grijalva and Ruben Gallego.

In the Senate, the resolution passed 57-43.

Voting for the bill: Republican Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake.

Our leaders, hard at work for … well, someone.