The Trump administration has made it easier to purchase guns, people who are mentally ill now have no problem. Just to spite Obama.

Wrong again, Sharonna. Your obsession with Trump is really not healthy.

This is not even remotely an accurate description of what happened. Last year, Congress and Trump eliminated a proposed rule that would have included in the federal government gun background database people who received disability payments from Social Security and received assistance to manage their benefits due to mental impairments.

This is a regulation that potentially deprived between 75,000 to 80,000 people of a right based not on what they had done, but on the basis of being classified by the government in a certain way. The fact that these people may have these impairments did not inherently mean that they were dangerous to themselves or others and needed to be kept away from guns.

This rule violated not just the Second Amendment but the Fourth, because it deprived the affected people of a right without due process. The government does have the power to restrict and even deny gun ownership to people, but it has to show that these people have engaged in behavior that makes weapons dangerous in their hands.

That's why the regulation was opposed not just by National Rifle Association (NRA), but by several mental health and disability groups and by the American Civil Liberties Union. Pundits largely ignored the latter groups' opposition to the rule, preferring to play up the power of the NRA and their influence on Republicans to turn the issue into a partisan fight.

It was hackery then, and it is still hackery today. It's shameful to ignore the serious constitutional problems of this poorly conceived rule just to sow panic and implicate one's political opponents.

This post was edited by Stu Spelling Bee at February 22, 2018 6:00 PM MST

"This is a regulation that potentially deprived between 75,000 to 80,000 people of a right based not on what they had done, but on the basis of being classified by the government in a certain way."

Nice principle---So why do we regulate the drinking age and the voting age and thus provide so many of their rights to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."---and the right to being safe from dying by gunfire in our public schools?

Is there ever complete avoidance of "collateral damage" in any effort to do the "best right thing?"

There does seem to be some element of spite with Trump as he dismantles many of Obama's accomplishments.  One of Trump's first accomplishments was making it easier for mentally disabled people to purchase these weapons.  No good reason except it will benefit gun manufacturers and make the NRA happy.  I don't believe most Americans want that ability for anyone to get a semi automatic weapon.