Armed Polite Society
Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: Perd Hapley on April 16, 2019, 04:41:35 PM
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This group was recommended by gun writer Kevin Creighton, who thinks gun owners must be proactive on the suicide issue, before it's used as an excuse to take guns.
https://walkthetalkamerica.org/
Our Mission
Walk The Talk Americaâ„¢ funds research and development for outreach and promotion of mental health to reduce the misconceptions and prejudices that exist when it comes to mental illness and firearms. We believe we can be a catalyst for change by working with experts in the mental health industry.
Our Goal
Our goal is to raise awareness and create a change in the misunderstandings regarding mental illness and firearms by bringing together industry leaders to reduce gun violence, negligence, suicide and the trauma created by these events. Develop programs for suicide prevention, firearms negligence, trauma mitigation, and child safety.
I think most of us are suspicious of new gun groups, but this one appears to be worthwhile. The only people whose names I recognized as being involved were Colion Noir and Rob Pincus. Some of the others are in the guns/sporting goods industry.
Also: https://walkthetalkamerica.org/mental-health-articles/why-i-started-walk-the-talk-america-a-letter-from-our-founder/
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This group was recommended by gun writer Kevin Creighton, who thinks gun owners must be proactive on the suicide issue, before it's used as an excuse to take guns.
It's already being used as an excuse, and has been for several years. Remember that during Obama's presidency the Social Security Administration and the Veterans Administration both began reporting recipients of money (social security benefits or veterans disability pensions) through designated payees to NICS, causing the recipients to become prohibited persons for no reason other than they may have had trouble balancing their checkbooks.
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Timely post, my Facebook Birthday request: https://www.facebook.com/HeroHog/posts/10157261199017082
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It's already being used as an excuse, and has been for several years. Remember that during Obama's presidency the Social Security Administration and the Veterans Administration both began reporting recipients of money (social security benefits or veterans disability pensions) through designated payees to NICS, causing the recipients to become prohibited persons for no reason other than they may have had trouble balancing their checkbooks.
More info?
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More info?
https://www.breitbart.com/2nd-amendment/2016/12/23/obama-administration-finalizes-social-security-gun-ban/
Trump did away with it very early on. Obviously, Big Media covered it just as you'd expect (https://duckduckgo.com/?q=trump+gives+gun+to+mentally+ill&t=ffab&ia=web).
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Trump overturned it for the Social Security Administration. The Veterans Administration was doing it on their own initiative, not pursuant to any congressional mandate, and I don't know if Trump (or anyone) has told the VA to stop doing it.
The rule, which was finalized in December, added people receiving Social Security checks for mental illnesses and people deemed unfit to handle their own financial affairs to the national background check database.
The part I highlighted was the issue. All that referred to was people who designated someone else to receive their check from the government each month. Difficulty balancing a checkbook does not equate to mental illness. It might be a person who was never good at math and whose spouse always handled the finances, until said spouse died. Then the poor widow(er) is stuck trying to do finances that he/she never did before, so they ask a son or daughter or grandchild to handle it.
And for that they get put on the NICS list as "mentally defective."
The VA started doing the same thing with people who had a "designated recipient" for military pension checks.
Although Trump got the law overturned, I don't know if that did anything to remove the names from the list of people who were reported while the law was in effect. Since the law addressed only Social Security, I don't know if the VA has stopped. If they have, I haven't noticed anything reported in the VFW magazine.
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My father was put on that list because I was my parents "Designated Payee" because Dad was legally (unable to drive, but not completely) blind and couldn't make out the numbers on the bank statement clearly, and Mom was having problems with math.
It completely pissed me and Dad off.
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Trump overturned it for the Social Security Administration. The Veterans Administration was doing it on their own initiative, not pursuant to any congressional mandate, and I don't know if Trump (or anyone) has told the VA to stop doing it.
The part I highlighted was the issue. All that referred to was people who designated someone else to receive their check from the government each month. Difficulty balancing a checkbook does not equate to mental illness. It might be a person who was never good at math and whose spouse always handled the finances, until said spouse died. Then the poor widow(er) is stuck trying to do finances that he/she never did before, so they ask a son or daughter or grandchild to handle it.
And for that they get put on the NICS list as "mentally defective."
The VA started doing the same thing with people who had a "designated recipient" for military pension checks.
Although Trump got the law overturned, I don't know if that did anything to remove the names from the list of people who were reported while the law was in effect. Since the law addressed only Social Security, I don't know if the VA has stopped. If they have, I haven't noticed anything reported in the VFW magazine.
That sounds like a good issue for Walk the Talk to work on. If they aren't already, I think you might be the right one to bring it to their attention.