Paul Ryan: Mentally ill person’s right to become a mass murderer trumps his right to health care – By Joan McCarter (dailykos.com) / Oct 3 2017
House Speaker Paul Ryan has rolled out every bullshit Republican cliché in the book responding to the massacre in Las Vegas, starting with the tired and massively inadequate “thoughts and prayers” to the completely predictable “it’s not guns, it’s mental health” today.
Asked at today’s briefing with reporters about what can be done by the feds to lessen the possibility of a mass shooting, Speaker Ryan pointed to mental health legislation approved in 2016 by the Congress.
“One of the things we’ve learned from these shootings is often underneath this is a diagnosis of mental illness,” Ryan said.
“That law is now being implemented,” Ryan said, calling it a “critical ingredient” in trying to prevent such mass violence in the future.
So, why, a reporter asked, did the Republican Congress then repeal Obama-era regulations making harder for mentally ill people to purchase guns.
“There were people whose rights were being infringed,” the Speaker said. “Protecting people’s rights was very important.”
Yep. More important to protect the right of a mentally ill person—who Ryan admits might just go on a mass shooting spree—than the right to life of the people who might end up in his line of fire.
Reporters apparently didn’t have the opportunity to ask Ryan why he was also trying to repeal the mental health coverage expansion in Obamacare. We all know what’s the priority for Ryan, and it sure as hell isn’t anyone’s mental health.
PB/TK – Once again the term mentally ill will need to be redefined to fit legislation. Maybe Speaker Ryan would like to revisit Rep Tim Murphy’s mental health bill and learn something
