He's got an ally there, Donald Trump, whom he's brought around to doing nothing. The initial calls from Trump for background checks are gone. This weekend, he said "we already have a lot of background checks." He then reverted to the favorite talking point of Republicans who don't want to do anything. "I don't want people to forget that this is a mental health problem. I don't want them to forget that, because it is. It's a mental health problem."
It is not a mental health problem. In fact, people with mental illness are much more likely to be the victims of violence. "Violent crime victimization are 12 times higher among the population of persons with serious mental illness than among the overall U.S. population." This talk does nothing besides give McConnell another out on action, and further stigmatize mental illness, making it likelier that people who need help won't get it for fear of being put on some kind of watch list.
It also elides the fact that McConnell has done everything in his power to take mental health care away from people by repealing the Affordable Care Act. Mental heath treatment is one of the essential health benefits the law requires of every health insurance plan, and McConnell—and Trump—want to see that end. This is nothing but a repeat of the old con game Republicans and the NRA have played after every single gun massacre of the last few decades.
McConnell might have succeeded in slowing momentum on action in D.C., but as the rallies this weekend demonstrated, momentum isn't stopping in the streets. It's going to carry on for the next 15 months and it's going to end McConnell's hold over our very lives.
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