Obamacare Amendment Forbids Gun and Ammo Registration

[baz]

So it is being reported:

It seems that in their haste to cram socialized medicine down the throats of the American people, then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Barack Obama overlooked Senate amendment 3276, Sec. 2716, part c.

According to reports, that amendment says the government cannot collect "any information relating to the lawful ownership or possession of a firearm or ammunition."

CNN is calling it "a gift to the nation's powerful gun lobby."

Gotta look into this. Seems to me it was intended to prevent using healthcare providers to accumulate such information. Could it really be so broad as to to prevent any Fed .gov registration database?

 

[DeepSouth]

I am literally laughing.
I guess they had to pass it to find out what was in it.
I really hope this is true, just for the irony.



My favorite part of the article.

And according to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), that's exactly right. He says he added the provision in order to keep the NRA from getting involved in the legislative fight over Obamacare, which was so ubiquitous in 2010.

 

[mberoose]

Well, now, that's a pill I can swallow!

ba-dum tshhhh

 

[gym]

Good to see thay read that one as carefully as the healthcare, that none of them read.This is funny in a way, you could slip anything in there and they will sign it just to get an early lunch.
So what do they do now, un sign it?

 

[TACOJOE]

ROFL that is just too funny. Now if only politicians actually followed the rules they made we might be in the clear on this particular issue.

 

[anchorman]

I am literally laughing.
I guess they had to pass it to find out what was in it.
I really hope this is true, just for the irony.

Of course they knew this was in it. I knew this was in it, and I only paid attention to this all in passing after they scrapped the public option (or medicare for all) in favor of allowing greedy insurance companies to profiteer at the public trough. It was all over the news at the time. Not all of the people in government are as dumb as you think, even though we may disagree with their actions and intentions at times (or often as the case may be).

 

[greenmtnguy]

I will have to read it to believe it, myself - I *do* know that there was a clause added that forbids DOCTORS from asking/inquiring about your (patients) ownership of firearms or collecting/using that information for medical purposes.

I am unaware that it says that the GOVERNMENT cannot collect this information.

If someone has already found it in that pile of "legislation" please point us to it - it can be tough sledding through that stuff.

 

[Solo]

I have never been prouder in my support of Obamacare.

 

[Prophet]

As someone who actively fought against socialized medicine (multiple exhausting trips to DC and back) I chuckled when I first read this. Someone knew what they were doing. Whether the effort will amount to a hill of beans worth of difference is another question entirely.

 

[JellyJar]

Not too fast. According to this provision it says:

2717,c,2

(2) LIMITATION ON DATA COLLECTION- None of the authorities provided to the Secretary under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

(my underline)

This only applies to the Secretary of the Treasury, not the Attorney General or the Department of Justice IHMO.

If you think I am wrong please sound off!

 

[-v-]

I agree with JellyJar. How it is worded, it says that

A wellness and health promotion activity implemented under subsection (a)(1)(D) may not require
2 the disclosure or collection of any information relat-
3 ing to—
4 ‘‘(A) the presence or storage of a lawfully-
5 possessed firearm or ammunition in the resi-
6 dence or on the property of an individual; or
7 ‘‘(B) the lawful use, possession, or storage of
8 a firearm or ammunition by an individual. "

See Page 2037-2038

 

[beatledog7]

But if healthcare personnel can't collect such information, we must ask ourselves why not? And when they tell us why not, we'll be able to leverage that reasoning to show why no other agency needs or ought to have that information either.

 

[primalmu]

Full text (http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?r111:1:./temp/~r111dLBy1n:e0:)

``(c) Protection of Second Amendment Gun Rights.--

``(1) WELLNESS AND PREVENTION PROGRAMS.--A wellness and health promotion activity implemented under subsection (a)(1)(D) may not require the disclosure or collection of any information relating to--

``(A) the presence or storage of a lawfully-possessed firearm or ammunition in the residence or on the property of an individual; or

``(B) the lawful use, possession, or storage of a firearm or ammunition by an individual.

``(2) LIMITATION ON DATA COLLECTION.--None of the authorities provided to the Secretary under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act or an amendment made by that Act shall be construed to authorize or may be used for the collection of any information relating to--

``(A) the lawful ownership or possession of a firearm or ammunition;

``(B) the lawful use of a firearm or ammunition; or

``(C) the lawful storage of a firearm or ammunition.

``(3) LIMITATION ON DATABASES OR DATA BANKS.--None of the authorities provided to the Secretary under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act or an amendment made by that Act shall be construed to authorize or may be used to maintain records of individual ownership or possession of a firearm or ammunition.

``(4) LIMITATION ON DETERMINATION OF PREMIUM RATES OR ELIGIBILITY FOR HEALTH INSURANCE.--A premium rate may not be increased, health insurance coverage may not be denied, and a discount, rebate, or reward offered for participation in a wellness program may not be reduced or withheld under any health benefit plan issued pursuant to or in accordance with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act or an amendment made by that Act on the basis of, or on reliance upon--
``(A) the lawful ownership or possession of a firearm or ammunition; or

``(B) the lawful use or storage of a firearm or ammunition.

``(5) LIMITATION ON DATA COLLECTION REQUIREMENTS FOR INDIVIDUALS.--No individual shall be required to disclose any information under any data collection activity authorized under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act or an amendment made by that Act relating to--

``(A) the lawful ownership or possession of a firearm or ammunition; or

``(B) the lawful use, possession, or storage of a firearm or ammunition.''.

 

[anchorman]

IIRC, the reason they wanted to collect that information (whether guns were in the house), was so that if a person was giving signs of being suicidal, doctors could ask the patient if they had any guns and recommend that they be taken away for the patient's safety. Seems reasonable, so long as there was recourse to get them back, and they weren't going to be taken and melted down. But given that some people were paranoid about doctors becoming government agents under a socialized health system (that never was going to happen anyway - too many private parties getting rich on that gravy train), republicans decided that NO info could be collected for this purpose, as the info might be used to form some kind of registry. Maybe a case of republican legislators worrying for nothing and actually interfering in the patient's well being.

 

[Sergei Mosin]

This came about because the AMA and other related groups have long-standing anti-gun policies and were attempting to cast gun ownership as a public health problem. Remember all the outraged threads about medical history questionnaires asking about gun ownership? This provision puts a stop to that practice.

 

[Robert]

Already running here.
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=694615