03 October, 2017
In the wake of one of the deadliest mass shootings in American history in Las Vegas, House Speaker Paul Ryan was asked what Congress could do to prevent these tragedies in the future.
He called the shooting, which left 59 people dead and hundreds more injured, "just terrible".
In 2016, the House and Senate passed the bipartisan Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act in 2016, from Reps. It was widely accepted as a "good start". But Ryan has consistently supported health care legislation that would gut Medicaid - the largest payer of mental health services in the country. That law is not being implemented.
At another point, Ryan claimed that "mental health reform is a critical ingredient to making sure that we can try to prevent" mass shootings. That is just what example of things that Congress has done.
Ryan finally replied by framing Congress' move to roll back restrictions on people with mental illness buying guns as about "protecting people's rights".
But Ryan did not address moves made by the GOP and President Donald Trump earlier this year that reversed an Obama administration regulation to make it more hard for those who are on Social Security for mental illness to be able to purchase guns.
"The rule is meant to make it a bit easier for the Federal Bureau of Investigation to flag those with severe mental illness while doing a background check on a firearm purchase", Lopez writes.
House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA), who was shot in June during a Republican congressional baseball practice, said at Ryan's weekly press conference that he and his wife were praying "for the people that were involved in the Nevada shooting".
Ryan scoffed, didn't answer her question and then called on another reporter, who asked the same question.
"The reason we're bringing our budget up this week is because we want to pass tax reform, because we think that's one of the most important things we can do to improve people's lives", he added.
