The NRA opposed gun registration while proposing a mental illness registry

Evidence

Given his organization’s staunch opposition to a national gun registry on privacy grounds, the proposal to invade the privacy of people with mental illness is the height of hypocrisy. An overwhelming majority of the mentally ill are nonviolent; many of them do not own guns and have no intention of buying any. Moreover, a good number of them may be proponents of banning guns altogether. There is a marked difference between requiring individuals who want to buy guns to undergo background checks and listing individuals on a national registry as mentally ill who are not seeking to buy guns. This Orwellian scheme violates people’s privacy rights for the sake of shifting attention away from guns of mass destruction to mental illness. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1273 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Gun-rights advocates proposed a national registry of mentally ill citizens — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 1272; Gun-regulation opponents displace causal responsibility onto mental illness while omitting weapons’ constant presence — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 1287; Gun-violence apologists shift blame to mental illness to avoid condemning firearms — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 1269 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Privacy-protecting gun advocates proposed invasive surveillance of mentally ill people #expands (0.92) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1273