Trump signs bill reversing Obama rule to ban gun purchases by mentally ill
Editor's note: This story was first published on Feb. 28, 2017, when President Donald Trump signed a bill rolling back Obama-era gun regulations. A technical issue has made it appear on some mobile browsers that the story was published more recently.
WASHINGTON — President Trump killed a regulation that would have tightened gun background checks Tuesday, signing a bill to undo one of his predecessor's executive actions following the San Bernardino shootings in 2015.
The Obama administration rule required the Social Security Administration to submit records of mentally disabled people to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, the FBI database used to determine whether someone can buy a firearm under the 1993 Brady Bill.
The rule would have applied to about 75,000 people who were “adjudicated as a mental defective" and who had applied for Social Security benefits, and had a mechanism to notify those affected so they could appeal. But congressional Republicans said the rule could ensnare people who had mental health issues but otherwise were competent to own a gun.
The Social Security Administration finalized the rule last Dec. 19. But under the Congressional Review Act, Congress has 60 legislative days to disapprove of any new regulation on straight majority votes. The vote was 57-43 in the Senate and 235-180 in the House.
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Trump and the Republican Congress have already used that tactic three times, rolling back Obama-era regulations requiring oil and mining companies to disclose payments to foreign governments, and the stream protection rule that required coal companies to mitigate the effects of mining on waterways.
The bill signing fulfills a campaign promise for Trump. Even before Obama announced his executive actions before his State of the Union Address last year, Trump said he would "un-sign that so fast" once he becomes president.
Trump signed the bill without a public ceremony Tuesday, the last day to sign it into law under the constitution's 10-day requirement.
Instead, Trump held a public signing ceremony Tuesday for two bills the White House preferred to draw attention to:
► The Promoting Women in Entrepreneurship Act, sponsored by Rep. Elizabeth Esty, D-Conn., which authorizes the National Science Foundation to encourage its entrepreneurial programs to recruit and support women.
► The Inspiring the Next Space Pioneers, Innovators, Researchers, and Explorers Women Act, sponsored by Rep. Barbara Comstock, R-Va., which directs NASA to encourage women and girls to study science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and pursue careers in aerospace.
Both of those bills were so uncontroversial they passed Congress on voice votes.
The bills were promoted by first daughter Ivanka Trump, who has been a champion of women's issues in the White House. "Closing the gender gap in STEM fields is essential to both innovation and workforce development," she said on Facebook. "I look forward to working alongside my father to champion the economic empowerment of women and girls and encouraging gender diversity in STEM fields is critical to that mission."