Social Security
Update: Agency Backpedals as NRA and Pro-Gun Officials Press for Answers
Friday, August 14, 2015
Last month, we reported on a story by the L.A. Times
that indicated the Obama White House is eyeing ways to use the Social Security
Administration (SSA) as a source of records for NICS, which includes
a federal database of persons prohibited from possessing or receiving firearms.
One option the story discussed was SSA’s adoption of a model employed by the Veteran’s
Administration, which reports to NICS as “adjudicated as a mental
defective” beneficiaries who have been assigned a “fiduciary” to manage their
benefits. This has resulted in some 177,000 VA beneficiaries being reported as
prohibited persons to NICS, without the necessity of any judicial finding
whatsoever as to their propensity for dangerous or violent behavior. According
to the L.A. Times, a similar move by the SSA would have far broader reach,
involving as many as 4.2 million beneficiaries with “representative
payees.”
We also noted that
Rep. Sam Johnson (R-Tex), Chairman of the Social Security Subcommittee of the House
Committee on Ways and Means, spearheaded a letter joined by 19 members
of Congress to Carolyn Colvin, Acting Commissioner of Social
Security. The letter cautioned that using the assignment of
representative payees as a basis for reporting SSA beneficiaries to NICS “would
be a dangerous overreach.” Accordingly, the letter urged the agency “to abandon
any such plan.” It also asked Ms. Colvin to specify whether or not SSA intended
to pursue such a policy.
Ms. Colvin responded to Rep. Johnson’s inquiry in a letter
dated Aug. 7. According to that letter, “SSA has not provided any names of
beneficiaries to the NICS and is not considering sending names based solely on
the beneficiaries having representative payees.” Ms. Colvin did acknowledge,
however, that “we are currently determining how we must comply with our NICS
reporting obligations under Federal law” and “are looking at possible
implementation scenarios.” None of those scenarios, according to Ms. Colvin,
“would refer all SSA beneficiaries with representative payees to the NICS.”
A careful parsing of Ms. Colvin’s language, however, still
leaves ample room for concern. For example, it does not rule out assignment of
a representative payee as factor in reporting beneficiaries to NICS. Rather, it
merely states that it will not be use as the “sole” determinant and that not
“all” such persons will be reported. This could mean, for example, that SSA
would not report beneficiaries who are assigned representative payees solely
because they are minors. It also raises the question of what other possible
pretext SSA might use to strip its clients of their Second Amendment
rights.
Given these ongoing concerns, your NRA continues to work
with pro-gun members of Congress to ensure one of America’s largest entitlement
programs is not transformed into the Obama administration gun ban dream
machine.
Also on Aug. 7, Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) led a coalition of
27 senators in another letter to Acting
Commissioner Colvin. Once again, the letter expressed concern about
SSA’s apparent intention to report beneficiaries with representative payees to
NICS. “It is not at all clear,” the letter stated, “how this misguided
intention is intended to be carried out or how SSA will serve as adjudicator of
risks posed by beneficiaries utilizing its representative payee system.” It
also asked for a report “on the basis for SSA's intention to develop such a
plan.” Further, the letter admonished, “Old age or a disability does not make
someone a threat to society,” and closed by urging SSA “to halt any steps to
provide information on Social Security beneficiaries or Supplemental Security
Income recipients to the NICS.”
Meanwhile, your NRA has been actively engaged with members
of Congress on ways to statutorily preempt use of the nation’s entitlement
programs as a basis for stripping Americans of the right to keep and bear arms.
As we reported last week,
Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) has introduced S. 2002, a bill that would halt the
VA and SSA, or any other agency for that matter, from forwarding individuals to
NICS without proper adjudications which find an individual a danger to
themselves or others. Law-abiding recipients of benefits for which they
are legally eligible should not have to worry about choosing between monies or
services they are due under the law and their fundamental constitutional
rights. All options remain on the table to prevent such abuses.
In the meantime, if you have not already registered your
concern, your senator and representative needs to hear from you NOW that you
will not tolerate use of the Social Security Administration to strip Americans
of their Second Amendment rights. You can use our "Write Your Lawmakers" feature here
or call the Congressional Switchboard at (202) 224-3121.
Social Security Administration (SSA)
James Roosevelt
Jr. was an associate commissioner for the Social Security Administration (SSA), and is a governor at the Roosevelt Institute.
Note: Katrina vanden Heuvel: Hillary Isn’t a Dynasty Candidate
(PAST RESEARCH ON THE ROOSEVELT INSTITUTE)
Saturday, October 17, 2015
Jonathan
Soros is a senior fellow at the Roosevelt
Institute, George Soros’s son, the
vice chairman for the Open Society
Foundations, and was the vice chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Roosevelt Institute, and the Harlem
Children's Zone.
George
Soros was the chairman for the Foundation
to Promote Open Society, was a benefactor for the Harlem Children's Zone, is Jonathan
Soros’s father, and the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations.
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank).
Michael R.
Bloomberg was a benefactor for the Harlem
Children's Zone, a contributor for Americans
for Responsible Solutions, is the founder of Everytown for Gun Safety, and a co-chair for Mayors Against Illegal Guns.
Americans
for Responsible Solutions is a “Gun
Safety” PAC for guns.
Everytown
for Gun Safety is a “Gun Safety”
group for guns.
Mayors
Against Illegal Guns is a “Gun
Safety” group for guns.
Chuck
Hagel was the chairman for the Atlantic
Council of the United States (think tank), and the deputy administrator for
the U.S. Veterans Administration.
Togo
D. West Jr. is a director at the Atlantic
Council of the United States (think tank), and was the secretary for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
Eric
K. Shinseki was a director at the Atlantic
Council of the United States (think tank), and was the secretary at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for
the Barack Obama administration.
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