President Barack Obama has been on a one man tour of the country, trying to make the case for an action he has no authority to undertake: an executive order to strip Americans of their Second Amendment protections. Obama keeps citing a mental health crisis, among other things.
But curiously enough, a bill with broad bipartisan support that would address America’s mental health issues without grabbing guns from competent, law abiding citizens is on the table. It’s the sort of reasonable compromise that Obama has claimed to be unable to find, and one would think that he would enthusiastically sign it.
Rep. Tim Murphy is still waiting to hear from President Obama, but he’s not counting on it.
The Pennsylvania Republican has spent the last three years leading a bipartisan congressional effort to reform the nation’s mental healthcare system as a way to reduce the number of mass shootings in the country.
He also has repeatedly tried to engage Obama and the White House on the issue, to no avail.
After Speaker Paul Ryan deemed Obama’s new executive actions on gun control a “distraction” and vowed to ignore them, Murphy’s bill could be a rare area of agreement between Obama, Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill when it comes to Washington’s response to mass shootings and gun violence.
A key component of Obama’s new executive actions on guns includes a call for $500 million to increase access to mental healthcare by expanding the service capacity of the behavioral health workforce.
This week, Murphy said Obama’s proposal to increase funding for mental health services could result in more lives lost if it doesn’t include serious reforms to the existing system. But Murphy says the president chose to act unilaterally and never tried to work with him on the issue, even though his legislation has garnered strong bipartisan support and more than 170 co-sponsors, including 43 Democrats.
“Um, never,” he said, when asked if the White House has reached out to him, considering his well-known bipartisan work on the issue.
This has never been about solving a problem. This is Obama “not letting a crisis go to waste” when it serves his liberal agenda. It’s a naked power grab, and gun owners everywhere should be worried.
AAN Staff
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