NCD Applauds Senate Action on SSA NICS Rule
February 15, 2017
The National Council on Disability (NCD), an independent federal agency, applauds the Senate’s approval of the bipartisan disapproval resolution to unlink the Social Security Administration’s database of representative payees with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System. Since the action was first proposed in 2013, NCD has consistently taken the position that equating the need for assistance in managing one’s finances with a false presumption of incapacity in other areas of life, including possession of a firearm, unnecessarily and unreasonably deprives individuals with disabilities of a constitutional right and increases the stigma that those who may need a representative payee. The overly broad classification of “mental disorder,” includes a wide range of limitations and a shifting set of criteria relevant to whether or not one can engage in substantial gainful activity. NCD remains steadfast in our position that this classification remains irrelevant to the question of whether one can be a responsible gun owner.
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Previous NCD work on this topic:
http://www.ncd.gov/publications/2017/ncd-letter-repeal-SSA-NICS-rule
http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/2016/ncd-reacts-president’s-gun-control-proposals
http://www.ncd.gov/publications/2016/ncd-letter-ssa-regarding-proposed-rule-nics-improvements-act