During the March 16 airing of ABC’s The View, host Sara Haines said she is “really disturbed” by House Republican efforts to repeal the gun ban for military veterans.
On March 13, Breitbart News reported that GOP leaders were eyeing a repeal of the gun ban, which is structured in a manner that is very similar to the recently repealed Social Security gun ban. Both bans were designed in a way that strips individuals of their Second Amendment rights without due process and both target the most vulnerable of Americans–those on disability who are suffering from mental duress or some degree of mental illness.
After the Social Security gun ban was finalized in December 2016, Duke University psychiatry and behavioral science professor Jeffrey Swanson warned that it targeted “the vulnerable” rather than the dangerous. His warning was based on the fact that a mental health moniker is very broad, covering everything from depression to severe mental illness. Writing in the Washington Post, Swanson said, “The mental health conditions in question might range from moderate intellectual disabilities to depression, bipolar disorder or schizophrenia.”
The clear takeaway from Swanson’s column was that many Social Security beneficiaries with minor–or even temporary–mental conditions were going to lose their rights along with people who had more extensive problems.
This same concern surrounds the gun ban for military veterans. For this reason, House Committee on Veteran Affairs chairman Phil Roe (R-TN-1) is pushing the Veterans 2nd Amendment Protection Act to repeal the ban and protect military veterans’ Second Amendment rights.
But the hostesses of the The View are troubled by the GOP effort to repeal the ban. Haines said, “One thing that really disturbed me yesterday was a bill that’s going to the floor in the House this week that’s called the Veterans 2nd Amendment Protection Act. Not many people can argue with what this is; this is about mentally ill veterans that have been deemed ‘mentally incompetent.'”
Joy Behar interjected, “Well. they have PTSD, a lot of them.”
Haines concurred and then said, “That is why 14 retired admirals have come out to say please do not pass this bill.”
Haines referenced the Social Security gun ban–without actually calling it by name–by saying the gun ban for military veterans “is the second one allowing mentally ill people [to get guns].”
Following more conversation, Whoopi Goldberg repeated the #FakeNews mantra, saying, “This is the second time they are saying it is okay for people with issues [to get guns].” After some back and forth, Goldberg added, “When you say you care about mental health issues, you cannot then turn around say, ‘Let’s give him or her a gun.'”
Throughout the conversation, Haines and Behar spoke negatively of the NRA and warned that the NRA was behind the effort to repeal the ban and protect the Second Amendment rights of military veterans. None of the hostesses pointed out that the admirals who signed a letter opposing repeal of the ban did so under the auspices of Gabby Giffords’ gun control group, Veterans Coalition for Common Sense.
Jedediah Bila suggested reading the bill to see what it actually says.
AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.