House Scraps Background Check Regulation

(AP) The House has voted to scrap an Obama administration regulation extending background checks for disabled Social Security recipients mentally incapable of managing their own affairs.

The vote to repeal the regulation is 235-180.

The vote is part of an effort to repeal a handful of regulations issued in President Barack Obama's final months and represents the first steps toward strengthening gun ownership under President Donald Trump.

The background checks rule established the criteria the Social Security Administration will follow when forwarding names for the criminal background check system.

Those fitting the criteria have a mental disorder so severe that they cannot work and need a representative to manage their benefits. The administration projected that the regulation would affect about 75,000 beneficiaries.

Gun rights groups and advocates for the disabled supported the repeal effort.