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Congress Just Voted to Let Mentally Impaired People Own Guns

The measure was initially proposed as part of Obama’s push to expand gun control regulations following the 2012 school massacre in Newtown, Connecticut.

The Senate voted Wednesday morning to eliminate a regulation aimed to stop people with mental disorders from buying firearms. And since the House of Representatives also voted to roll back the rule two weeks ago, the measure—originally enacted in December under Barack Obama—now goes to Donald Trump's desk.

The president is expected to sign it.

The measure was initially proposed as part of Obama's push to expand gun control regulations following the 2012 school massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, when Adam Lanza killed more than 25 children and teachers, as well as his mother. Lanza suffered from ailments like Asperger's syndrome and OCD.

But critics of the regulation denounced it as too broad. Under the regulation, the names of Social Security beneficiaries with mental disabilities who also use a money manager had to be added to the FBI's background-check database. That measure would've kept about 75,000 people from buying guns, the New York Times estimates, though people could have appealed their placement on the background check list.

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