Harry Reid to Use ‘Mental Health’ for Gun Control, Won’t Provide Details

AP Photo-/J. Scott Applewhite
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said Tuesday that he is ready “to move forward” with a plan to curb gun-rights.

The Nevada Democrat told reporters that he had “a number of meetings…with Democrat Senators” and was ready to move, but would not provide any details on how he and his fellow gun-control proponents will write their draft legislation.

According to The Hill, Reid would only say that the Democrats “have a program and [they’re] going to do some press on it this Thursday.” Reid stressed that he is “going to make sure [the gun control push] is inclusive” to ensure the entire Democrat caucus is involved.

On Oct. 5, Breitbart News reported that Reid (D-NV) wants to pass more gun control aimed at keeping “sick individuals” from plotting and carrying out “horrific” acts like the shootings that repeatedly occur in gun-free zones.

Reid did not say Tuesday if his legislation would include more stringent “background checks”— perhaps background checks of would-be buyers’ “mental health.”

Reid did not explain how he will convince Senators to expand background checks to cover more sales when Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) — the sponsor of the expanded background check bill pushed after Sandy Hook — admitted his bill would not have stopped the Sandy Hook attack from taking place. On top of this, nearly every mass shooter in recent memory who didn’t steal his guns acquired them via a background check.

In fact, background checks have proven so impotent against mass shooters that it is harder to name a mass shooter from the last 15 years who did not pass a background check than it is to name one who did.

The most recent gunman — Chris Harper Mercer (Umpqua Community College) — passed a background check for his guns. Other attackers and alleged attackers who passed background checks for their guns include Vester Lee Flangan (Virgina), John Russell Houser  (Lafayette), Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez (Chattanooga), Dylann Roof (Charleston), Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi (Garland), Jared and Amanda Miller (Las Vegas), Elliot Rodger (Santa Barabara), Ivan Lopez (Fort Hood 2014), Darion Marcus Aguilar (Maryland mall), Karl Halverson Pierson (Arapahoe High School), Paul Ciancia (LAX), Andrew John Engeldinger (Minneapolis), Aaron Alexis (DC Navy Yard), Tennis Melvin Maynard (West Virginia), Wade Michael Page (Sikh Temple), James Holmes (Aurora theater), Jared Loughner (Tucson), Nidal Hasan (Fort Hood 2009), Jiverly Wong (Binghamton), Seung-Hui Cho (Virginia Tech), Naveed Haq (Seattle), and Mark Barton (Atlanta).

Follow AWR Hawkins on Twittter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.

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