Trump Signs Bill Reversing Obama Rule to Report Certain Social Security Recipients to NICS

Late last year, I blogged that the Social Security Administration published a final rule relating to the NICS Improvement Act of 2007.

The final rule provided that:

An individual will have been “adjudicated as a mental defective” if during SSA’s claim development and adjudication process, or when SSA takes certain post-entitlement or post-eligibility actions, SSA will identify any individual who:

1. Has filed a claim based on disability;
2. Has been determined to be disabled based on a finding that the individual’s impairment(s) meets or medically equals the requirements of one of the Mental Disorders Listing of Impairments (section 12.00 of appendix 1 to subpart P of part 404 of this chapter) under the rules in part 404, subpart P, of this chapter, or under the rules in part 416, subpart I, of this chapter;
3. Has a primary diagnosis code in our records based on a mental impairment;
   
   Primary diagnosis code means the code we use to identify an individual’s primary medical diagnosis in our records. The primary diagnosis refers to the basic condition that renders an individual disabled under the rules in part 404, subpart P, of this chapter, or under the rules in part 416, subpart I, of this chapter.
4. Has attained age 18, but has not attained full retirement age; and
5. Requires that his or her benefit payments be made through a representative payee because we have determined, under the rules in part 404, subpart U, of this chapter, or the rules in part 416, subpart F, of this chapter, that he or she is mentally incapable of managing benefit payments.

While the rule would not have affected anyone until December of this year, it will now no longer affect anyone.

On February 28, 2017, President Trump quietly signed a bill that was passed in both chambers of Congress which reversed the implementation of this rule. As a result, the Social Security Administration’s regulation is now no longer a threat to about 75,000 Americans.

Of course, those who oppose individuals owning firearms, are attempting to sway public opinion by using a narrative that President Trump signed a bill which reversed Obama’s rule to ban gun purchases by the mentally ill. Given that many individuals did not know or understand what the rule actually did, it is not surprising this narrative is being utilized to delegitimize what is a good decision for Americans.

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