Obama Administration Looks to Ban Gun Ownership by Some Social Security Recipients

The Los Angeles Times and Fox News report that the Obama Administration is attempting to involve the Social Security Administration (SSA) in managing gun ownership.  If the SSA by its own standards determines a beneficiary is no longer able to manage his own affairs, then that beneficiary would be banned from owning a gun.

This push could affect more than 4.2 millions adults whose disability benefits are handled by “representative payees.”  The measure is designed to include the SSA, who have never been involved in the background check process before, in helping to enforce existing federal laws, which restrict gun ownership from people unable to manage their own affairs due to  “marked subnormal intelligence, or mental illness, incompetency, condition, or disease.”  

This measure from the Obama administration is designed to strengthen the existing gun laws in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings.

Author’s note:   I agree with the critics who say this is a bad idea.   Someone who may be a forgetful in paying their bills is not necessarily incompetent in other ways, and this is no reason to strip their Second Amendment rights.  

The Social Security Administration is not in a position to make judgments on general competency, their criteria are designed to assist, not restrict.  This measure would provide a vast database who will be convicted of incompetence using vague and irrelevant criteria.

Older people are frequent victims of crimes, this law will make them more vulnerable.