Obama Social Security Gun Grab Reversed by Congress?

2nd Amendment – R2KBA Authors Current Events S.H. Blannelberry This Week
Obama Social Security Gun Grab Reversed by Congress?

(Photo: SSA/Facebook)

The controversial decision by the Obama administration to strip certain social security beneficiaries of their Second Amendment rights is now being reviewed, and probably reversed, by Congress.

“Congress’s decision to review the Obama administration’s back-door gun grab is a significant step forward in protecting a fundamental constitutional right for law-abiding gun owners,” said Chris W. Cox, the NRA’s chief lobbyist, in a press release.

“The NRA has been fighting this unconstitutional government overreach since it was first discussed and we look forward to swift congressional action,” he continued.

First proposed by the Obama administration in the summer of 2015, the rule sought to classify beneficiaries who use representative payees to manage their accounts as mentally incompetent, thus making it illegal for them to possess, own, buy or sell firearms under federal law.

SEE ALSO: Barry Says Goodbye… How Will You Remember the 44th POTUS?

Yet, just because one does not manage one’s finances does not mean that one is unfit to own a firearm, which is what the Obama administration was assuming with this sweeping executive action that officially took effect on Jan. 18, 2017. Estimates suggested that as many as 75,000 recipients would be affected by the rule.

Now, under the Congressional Review Act, which allows the House and the Senate to review any of the rules instituted by a lame duck president in his last six months of office, lawmakers are going to hold a vote on this overly-broad gun grab. The vote by the GOP-controlled Congress could take place as early as next week.

“This is a new era for freedom-loving Americans and the NRA is excited to begin work with our pro-Second Amendment president and Congress to ensure that law-abiding Americans’ constitutional rights are respected,” concluded Cox.

This is just one of several anti-gun overtures Obama made while leaving office. Others include banning lead ammo on federal grounds, sending the signed U.N. Arms Trade Treaty to the Senate for approval, granting clemency for firearm-related offenders, cementing requirements for “smart guns.

Between his support for renewing a ban on so-called “assault weapons” and his numerous executive actions, Obama clearly tried to make life miserable for gun owners.  Thankfully, for the most part, he failed.  And now it appears Congress is going to undo what little progress he did make during his anti-gun crusade.

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  • Sharon February 3, 2017, 5:04 pm

    You people never cease to amaze me in your thought processing. For your information, Obama learned that the reason these people cannot manage their own finances is because they are illiterate (ya know, the ability to read about safe operation and proper ammo for a firearm) and/or have a mental disability. The same people that will drop a 9mm Luger cartridge in their grand daddy’s 9mm Largo. Or decide to shoot at 6 exploding targets from 20 feet away and get their leg blown to bits. Maybe decide to use half the powder when reloading their .45-70 because they want a lighter load. OMG people!!

    • DC Williams February 14, 2017, 1:40 am

      Ma’am, in 1999, my now-late father, who at the time was a 79-year-old former U.S. military lifer who retired as a USAF squadron commander, had me assist him in establishing a trust with which this son was eventually entrusted in its administration. One of the actions taken, of course, was to place income into his trust which, by another name, seemed possibly defined as “representative payee.”

      Causing specific angst during the trust’s establishment was the Social Security Administration’s language defining a representative payee, in part stating it as that which receives “… the Social Security or SSI benefits for anyone who can’t manage or direct the management of his or her benefits.”

      Specifically troubling were, “…can’t manage or direct…”

      If you will, please remember that all these other matters, specifically those related to a president yet to be elected to that office, had yet to take place. However, “representative payee” was “there” and therefore, despite the timeframe differences, in our minds there existed troubling aspects relating to “can’t” – a synonym for which is “unable.”

      At the very heart of an irrevocable trust is the inviolability of that trust’s beneficiary/ies to in any way direct operations of that irrevocable trust. Furthermore, by law, an irrevocable trust cannot be revoked. Thus, when in place, my father would not be able to do a darn thing about what I, as the trust’s administrator, can do with “his” money regardless of source.

      Not wishing to tangentially stray far from the main point herein: Whoever invokes an irrevocable trust for whatever purpose will, at the moment of a pen’s completed stroke, thus surrenders any and all rights to the end results of whatever he or she constituted. (Which, BTW, is a good counterpoint to those who see the U.S. Constitution as being a changeable entity. The “why” of such is another, rather long subject mostly dealing with “how law works.”)

      Such permanency stresses the need for a trust to be designed, even undertaken with great care. Whatever becomes a part of an irrevocable trust, be it irreplaceable paintings, a pledge of money or assets to build a museum in which to house those painting or, in our case, a means by which a father was able, among other specifics, to establish the trust’s representatives or their succession should any be incapacitated while the trust was in force. To ensure his safe future, even should he be mentally disabled, my father took the necessary steps to place himself at what might be the mercy of others, even though the trust didn’t allow its administrators to undertake any actions outside of basic fiduciary responsibilities outlined therein.

      Even though we satisfactorily received assurances – eventually written assurances because too many Social Security representatives provided often contradictory and diametric answers over the telephone – our situation was outside of the “representative payee” box (I know, highly technical law talk, huh?) and that we could further pursue the trust’s completion absent of interference from the SSA on the “representative payee” aspect.

      All things considered and particularly noting the SSA is an administrative body for which Constitutional rules don’t necessarily apply, we maintained vigilance in looking over our shoulders because governments, even ours, sometimes do the type of things that can flat-out ruin a life; whether intentionally or unintentionally, the deed done is difficult – at best – to unwind.

      Looking over one’s shoulder proved unnecessary not long after the trust’s filings, because in 2001 my father had a massive stroke that destroyed 60-percent of his brain. He lived another six months, vacillating between lucidity and stupidity. It was a tough time, emotionally, but the fact that we had beforehand taken measures at least smoothed the financial side.

      However, because the subject arose herein and we became quite familiar with it, known to exist are those who for whatever reason want someone else to “take care of things.” There are those who don’t believe a trust as necessary or, for whatever reason, don’t want or cannot justify a trust due to the involved expenses and, well, the rules participants must follow as well.

      As noted above, the underlying reasons relating to the use or need of a representative payee are as varied as the actions that might lead someone to question another’s mental status or, as others might crassly state, a person who is “crazier than a looney bird.”

      However, already prohibited by federal law (sometimes as well as numerous state and municipal laws) is the transfer of a firearm to someone so impaired. Do we really need another law that does the same as one already on the books? Furthermore, who might enforce the newly proposed SSA rule? Are we to make the friendly SSA representative a cop, too? Or might that representative just become a snitch, instead, so that “blame” can be superficially shifted to others?

      This aging fellow can remember mandatory “American vs. Communism” classes, ones actually enjoyed, for provided was food for serious thought, like, “Why did the Soviet Union’s General Secretary of the Communist Party Josef Stalin order the murder of somewhere between 20-and-50 million (yep, MILLION) of his own people? And did so uninterrupted for decades.

      One can easily, perhaps even foolheartedly wonder what might have been the outcome if each among those millions had firearms and ammunition.

      And while illiteracy has throughout time been a huge, nowadays largely self-imposed handicap, such seems a weak standard by which to either keep oneself from arming or to take away what time and again has proved – actually, not theoretically – as the most important means of self-defense available to those of the greater ages, never mind the importance to weaker souls.

      Having no clue as to the average response time of local authorities elsewhere, yet often vitally important in each matter about which one is aware when involving law enforcement officers, in this author’s neck of the woods it takes the authorities no fewer than 20 minutes – and in two cases directly involving this author, 30-or-more minutes to arrive at the scene.

      In one of the two cases, added were another 20 minutes for the LEOs needed in backup roles, including the two helicopters and a six-man swat team who actually abandoned the idea of wearing all their gear because it was taking too long. And these folks were and are no yahoos out of the wilderness. They did what they needed to do for everyone’s protection – excepting the aforementioned. Bottom line on time? 55 minutes before the door was entered. How many people might’ve been killed or severely injured in such a timeframe?

      But even if it were to take just 60 seconds between a 911 hang up and a LEO’s arrival, a whole bunch of hurt, even death can be levied. I don’t know how, but we’ve become insanely fixed upon the idea of LEO response times being somewhere in the neighborhood of “right now” and instantaneously, or that cruel and unusual punishment can’t possibly be inflicted by a sadistic burglar planning to exit the scene between 2:30 and 2:45 into a 3-minute response time.

      Why are the above contentions germane to the discussion of illiterates and those a bubble-or-two off plumb?

      Because they are people who may well need to defend themselves in a land in which too many of its citizens seem phobic about who may or may not have guns when the reality is that only a few seriously demented souls wish to engage in a no-holds-barred gunfight. While the police are not required to report those instances wherein a crook was deterred by a once hidden but suddenly exposed firearm, accounts in media have filtered through. And such does happen. Even including little old ladies on Social Security who some might think a little looney because she lives outside of some predefined box while injuring absolutely no one in the pursuit of what she believes to be “happiness.”

      Insofar as people doing stupid things (“9mm Largo” vs. 9mm Parabellum, etc.), will we – that is, we as a species – really ever effectively outlaw “stupid?” After all, traffic accidents happen throughout the country each and every day, the proximate cause of nearly each being stupidity. Surely, any reader knows that long is the list of people doing stupid things and dying, like poisoning oneself – the third-leading cause of U.S. deaths among people aged 15-24 and occurring between 1997 and 2012. And just in case one might think drug-overdose numbers are found within the “poison” numbers, they aren’t. The Centers for Disease Control note that the No. 1 accidentally induced manner of death in 2014 – across the entire U.S. age spectrum – was opiate poisonings.

      A top-of-the-charts problem now going on a decade in its very public discussion and anti-opiate campaigns undertaken, who in Hades hasn’t heard the debate and warnings that have surrounded the issue? And yet 78 people on average are said to die each day from opiate overdosing – pharmaceutical opiate overdosing – according to the CDC.

      And the preceding is not stupid, too!? Shall the U.S. then demand pharmacies not only provide authorities with lists of patients taking legally prescribed opiates but also inform their opiate recipients that forbidden are they in the purchase of a firearm?

      Such already is forbidden. It’s on the same questionnaire that gun-purchasers must attest as accurate and complete, clearly spelling out that the simultaneous use of opiates, whether the drugs are acquired licitly or illicitly, are a no-no in the purchase of a firearm.

      Lest anyone confuse or conflate accidental and purposeful with, respectively, unintentional and intentional, they are exclusive terms. “Sharon” first went down the road of dumb things done and flaming illiterates, not this writer.

      And, finally, one might wish to recall a simple World War I soldier from backwoods Tennessee, a fellow named Sgt. Alvin Cullum York of Company G, 328th Infantry Regiment, 82nd Infantry Division of the U.S. Army.

      Sgt. York’s wartime actions the Meuse-Argonne offensive – he silenced two German machine gun nests and captured 138 German soldiers all but single-handedly near Verdun, France – ultimately enabling his battalion and allied forces to capture the strategic Decauville rail-line north of Chatel-Chéhéry, France, on October 8, 1918. Sgt. York afterward received numerous meritorious citations, U.S. and international, including the U.S. Medal of Honor.

      Oh! Almost forgot to mention: Sgt. York was functionally illiterate when drafted for and upon entering the U.S. Army.

      And that is that.

    • borecrazy June 2, 2017, 4:36 am

      First off it seems obvious you are interjecting your belief that is how Obama arrived at his decision. You don’t KNOW that was his thought process. Secondly, many of the pioneers who moved West and settled our country were illiterate, but they relied on firearms to feed and protect their families and got by just fine. And thirdly, the perceived problem with guns is actually a problem with the intent of some people in using them. Crime and mass murders are caused by people who know just what they are doing and don’t care about any laws to the contrary. A gun will lay still and not hurt a soul until some bad-meaning person picks it up. Accidental deaths are an unfortunate but very small percentage of gun deaths. Accidental drownings and automobile fatalities are unfortunate also, but we don’t outlaw swimming or driving?

  • Bob M January 27, 2017, 11:31 pm

    Just a quick comment. Did I miss something here? Did our president not swear to uphold the constitution? He (Obama) was NEVER MY President and NEVER will be. I didn’t vote for the incompetent either time and had to laugh at the suggestion that he be elected a third time. Also, what kind of idiot (Rosie O’Donnel) would suggest Obama declare martial law? I would gladly contribute to a fund to send her somewhere else-maybe she should live in Russia or Iran for awhile. Our government has been trying its’ best to take our guns away in any way they can. I have the highest security clearance you can get and it took 15 seconds to clear me when I recently purchased a pistol and bunch of ammo. To suggest that a person is mentally unfit just because he or she has someone else handle their affairs is idiotic. My wife handles some of my financial affairs because some imbecile stole my identity and messed up my credit rating. It has taken me nearly 4 years to get it straightened out and the person who did it will never serve any time as the bank they worked for has destroyed all their records when they closed down that satellite office. Why doesn’t our government spend it’s time and our money prosecuting these people instead of dreaming up ways to violate our rights? t had to pay nearly $5,000.00 for things I never purchased and had my bank accounts seized and never be returned to me. Also, regarding vets having guns. What kind of country sends a person into harm’s way and then refuses to respect and honor them by taking care of physical problems and medical bills? They deserve to receive the best treatment possible-not excuses. My son served in Kuwait and was nearly killed in the attack there-fortunately he wasn’t injured but 14 of his fellow quartermasters were killed. Anyways I do my best to stay off the grid so that when our government decides to use some backdoor trick to seize our weapons they won’t come knocking at my door. Just my thoughts and I am sure I am not alone in thinking that way. I hope that congress is smart enough to dump this silliness. Bob M..

  • bison1913 January 27, 2017, 2:32 pm

    FANTASTIC!!!!! Yes, I’m yelling.

  • Bean Counter January 27, 2017, 12:43 pm

    What’s next? Adding the names of people who have CPAs prepare their taxes? Congress needs to step in and right the ship. And they must be sure to see that the VA stops pulling the same crap. I’m a little surprised that a class action suit hasn’t already put a stop to this nonsense.

  • David Battaglia January 27, 2017, 11:29 am

    New York State is desperately in need of help, under the tyrant called Governor Andrew Cuomo. Registering all guns with the state, and suspending ccl’s of any handgun owners that have taken anti anxiety meds. He will have his state police cross reference licensee’s with HIPPA violated reports from their doctors and pharmacists, to the state. This means mass confiscation of legally owned guns. The Supreme Court must rule Cuomo’s Safe Act unconstitutional, according to the US constitution.

    • SGT-N January 27, 2017, 1:53 pm

      Get viable GOP candidates and “vote” the SOB and the Ditzycrats cabal in the state legislature out of office. An alternative, petition Congress to make NYC its own state. The latter option is far fetched, but I believe that most Americans would love to see its political power diluted.

      • 2Bornot2B2A January 31, 2017, 6:04 am

        California has set the wheels in motion for your latter comment. My opinion, let it go with all the dimwitted Hollywood elites. A beautiful state turned ugly by the Dems. The next time the San Andreas fault acts up they will get what they want. A country (island) standing on it’s own.

  • Verle Wenneker January 27, 2017, 8:27 am

    Obama’s executive orders are cumulatively devastating.

  • RetNavet January 27, 2017, 7:01 am

    I’d like to start a $5 pool to guess the date Obongoloid begins his hormone therapy and starts dating Chelsea Manning

    • David Barnett January 27, 2017, 9:32 am

      The story reads “How will you remember Obama”, personally I will not remember him.

      • Carl Dixon January 28, 2017, 12:31 am

        We will only remember him as the asshole who forced healthcare on Americans, with a convoluted and distorted bill that imposed a “penalty” that is actually an unconstitutional fine that increases in percentage every year if you do not get healthcare.

        • borecrazy June 2, 2017, 4:45 am

          Which I believe was a clue from Justice Roberts when the Supreme Court ruled it legal. It was there to act on-an illegal fine and nobody grasped the moment and stopped the health care act when we could have!

  • Pseudo January 27, 2017, 6:16 am

    The need to also include military veterans who have been denied their rights to own or purchase firearms.

    • NRApatriot January 27, 2017, 11:50 am

      They are included in Rand Paul’s bill praise God! I like Trump a lot, but I think Rand Paul would’ve made a great president!

    • NRApatriot January 27, 2017, 11:52 am

      They are included in Rand Paul\’s bill praise God! I like Trump a lot, but I think Rand Paul would\’ve made a great president!

  • Pseudo January 27, 2017, 6:14 am

    They also need to include military veterans who in some areas have been denied the right to own or purchase firearms.

    • MIKE OKELLY January 27, 2017, 11:10 pm

      the brady bill helped lots of wamon that just wanted out of there marrage and was scarid to run. so phonie charges got men tossed out , and over jelous female attournys jumped right on,you wtf the state paid the bill so lets cut there balls off.lots of good paid long tome employes got shit caned. and they are still scorend. blocked from a good job. that bill should be tossed. and went over case by case. NOT JUST A GROUP THEM ALL IN THE SAME POT BILL.

    • MIKE OKELLY January 27, 2017, 11:19 pm

      I USED TO LOVE TO GO TO MY TRAP LEAGE 2 TIMES A WEEK AND SHOOT CANS WITH MY BUDS ON NICE FALL WEEKENDS. WE NEVER HURT ANYONE AND HELPED OUT FARMERS HUNTING DEER AND THE BIRDS AND RABBITS THAT HURT THE CROPS. BUT A EX WIFE SAID I HIT HER AND THEY TOOK AWAY MY FIREARMS PERMIT. THAT IS BULL THEM GAL`S HAVE A CARD TO PLAY WHEN THEY WANT TO RUN. YOU DONT EVEN GET YOUR DAY IN COURT.

  • mike t cavanaugh January 27, 2017, 6:13 am

    Dear Sirs & Ladies

    I am a 100% Disabled Veteran who recieves SSD W PTSD and a TBI. I have had a love of shooting since age 4. I sometimes compete in IDPA and also volunteer at my local gunrange helping people who just recieved their CCW how to shoot and carry Safely and then accurately.

    Your email early this month alerting me about Obama’s EO on stripping me and my fellow disabled citizens scared the hell out of me before making me feel betrayed because my Wife who also is a Disabled Vet has a degree and handles all of our finances i would be losing my 2ND Ammendment Rights.

    I then called both Senators and Congressman Dr Phil Roe. My psychiatrist loves the fact that i still feel safe and happy when im practicing and volunteering at the range or at competitions.

    THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH for bringing that night mare that took effect on 18 Jan 17. Now your article letting me know that it is under review by Congress makes me feel MUCH safer and happy.

    Mike T. Cavanaugh
    DAV

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