We reported on Friday that Houston, Texas Representative Sheila Jackson Lee has filed a gun grabbers dream bill. H.R. 127 includes nearly every bad idea the anti-gun left has wanted for decades — and the last few months might have made them arrogant enough to try to ram it through.
From the creation of a national firearms license, the requirement of civil liability insurance for all gun owners, to the establishment of a national ammunition registry and more, this bill is a nightmare!
One aspect of the bill that’s getting lots of attention — as it should — is the requirement that gun owners must have a mental health check before they can purchase a gun.
It’s just as outrageous as it sounds!
The Facts
The wording of the bill includes this requirement:
“(2) PSYCHOLOGICAL EVALUATION.—A psychological evaluation is conducted in accordance with this paragraph if—
“(A) the evaluation is conducted in compliance with such standards as shall be established by the Attorney General;
“(B) the evaluation is conducted by a licensed psychologist approved by the Attorney General;
“(C) as deemed necessary by the licensed psychologist involved, the evaluation included a psychological evaluation of other members of the household in which the individual resides; and
“(D) as part of the psychological evaluation, the licensed psychologist interviewed any spouse of the individual, any former spouse of the individual, and at least 2 other persons who are a member of the family of, or an associate of, the individual to further determine the state of the mental, emotional, and relational stability of the individual in relation to firearms.
The Historical Precedent Isn’t Good
This mental health provision isn’t new. It’s been proposed in New York in the past, and is certainly not going away any time soon.
On the face of it, a leftist might think, “Who would object to that? Only crazy people would mind that! If you have nothing to hide you have nothing to worry about!”
Of course, nothing could be further from the truth.
The idea is as old as Communism! Russian leaders Stalin, Khrushchev, and Brezhnev imprisoned countless people who disagreed with their Communist agenda, labeling them “mentally defective” before sending them to prison, labor farms or worse.
China’s Chairman Mao did this too, denying people who questioned his policies the right to vote, travel, and more — claiming that they were “mentally defective.”
An idea like this would have sounded like far out fear-mongering in 2019 but has a lot more plausibility in 2021. We’ve seen countless impositions on our right to vote as usual, travel freely, do business, and much more in 2020.
Congresswoman Jackson-Lee and the radical leftists in Congress are trying to do the exact same thing: use the results of politically motivated mental health evaluations against gun owners who disagree with their socialist gun-grabbing agenda!
After all, H.R. 127 and those in Congress who support it would essentially weaponize the Department of Justice and mental health staffers against gun owners!
And once a federal employee — aka, not a doctor and not an unbiased person — has deemed you ‘mentally unfit’ for gun ownership, any claims you might make that you ARE mentally sound can be dismissed as the rantings of the crazy person.
“Of course he thinks he’s not crazy! They ALL do!”
Bearing Arms added a good point:
First, let’s look at the attorney general deciding what the evaluation process is. This is an attorney deciding how a psychologist is supposed to do their job. Nevermind that between that and needing approval by the AG, it’s possible to create a system where absolutely no one can get a gun, ever. Hell, just by not approving any psychologists, the AG could bar anyone from buying a gun.
On top of that, no other right protected by the Constitution requires a mental health check. If Congress can do this to the Second, what’s to stop them from requiring a mental health checkup to exercise the First Amendment right of free speech?
Nothing! It’s a dangerous precedent — and entirely unconstitutional.
And gun owners know that the Big Tech cartel would be happy to go along with silencing those that the government has deemed ‘mentally unfit!’
And just to pile on more reasons this provision of the bill is complete lunacy, it sets one more dangerous precedent. It places our gun rights in the hands of individuals. Fallible, biased, and prejudiced people. It’s no secret that some psychologists already think that anyone who wants a gun is psychologically unsound.
Our rights don’t begin once some psychologist signs off on them.
The anti-gun left is pushing hard for mega bills like this, hoping to get some parts of them to stick. But this bill needs to get shot down RIGHT NOW.
Fight Back With The American Firearms Association
We’ve written before that we’re big fans of the American Firearms Association because we think that their tactics and messaging are the future of the fight for our gun rights. The AFA is down-and-dirty — in the best sense! They’re not trying to make friends with the Swamp Monsters!
Fill out their box below to sign a petition that will go right to YOUR federal representatives telling them to VOTE NO on this gun control nightmare bill.