NPR February 28, 2017

Trump Repeals Rule Designed To Block Gun Sales To Certain Mentally Ill People

President Trump signed a measure into law Tuesday that rescinds an Obama-era rule aimed at blocking gun sales to certain mentally ill people.

The GOP-majority Senate passed the bill by a 57-43 margin earlier this month, following a House vote to overturn the rule.

The rule was written in response to the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., where 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot dead 20 students and six teachers. As The Associated Press reported, it was "crafted as part of Obama's efforts to strengthen the federal background check system" in the wake of that tragedy.