(PatriotSpotlight.org) – Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) says he will vote against the latest $450 billion government funding package, citing a GOP-backed provision which could allow more people with mental illness to purchase firearms. Murphy is a longtime advocate of gun control measures, previously claiming that a “popular revolt” over clashing conceptions of gun control rights could occur.
The provision is one element of a key government funding package set to pass this week, and is geared toward allowing veterans who need assistance to manage their benefits legally buy guns. This bipartisan agreement was reached between Republicans and Democrats after the GOP pushed for this controversial provision’s inclusion. A similar plan in 2023, which would reverse a nearly 30-year status quo, failed to be signed off.
GOP members claim that the new rule would safeguard the Second Amendment rights of veterans who need financial management aid, however Democrats including Murphy have raised concerns about its potential to increase veterans’ suicide rates, and heighten risks linked to the ownership of firearms possession by “mentally incompetent” people.
Writing via social media, Murphy claimed that this provision could possibly allow “20,000 new seriously mentally ill individuals” to acquire guns each year, and slammed his party’s concession to this measure. Discussions over the 1,050 page government funding package continue ahead of a looming government shutdown deadline.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) oversees a program which is aimed toward safeguarding veterans and beneficiaries deemed incapable of managing their VA benefits. A field examination is used to determine whether people fall under this category. As part of this scheme, the details of “incompetent beneficiaries” are reported to the FBI under the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, which bans gun purchases by people deemed mentally “defective.” The names of such people are then added to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), which gun dealers must legally refer to before approving any sales of firearms. Individual veterans are able to petition the VA to be considered exempt from the rule.
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