Hillary Spreads False Rumor that Trump Signed Order Legalizing Gun Sales to Mentally Ill

In a bid to score points against her former political rival, Hillary Clinton is now resorting to spreading false rumors.

Clinton claimed on The Tonight Show Wednesday that Trump signed a bill legalizing the sale of firearms to the mentally ill. 

The "What Happened" author is not alone, as this has become a common claim within the media. 

Speaking of her book, Clinton accused Republicans of taking orders from the gun lobby: "I write about, you know, taking on the NRA in the election.  And I -- and I write about these remarkable, extraordinary people who lost loved ones, the mothers of the movement who lost children, the parents from Sandy Hook whose 6-year-olds were murdered, the incredible Gabby Giffords and her husband, Mark, because I can't believe that one whole political party in the greatest country on Earth is totally sold to the gun lobby, and will do whatever they are ordered to do, despite the loss of life."

Clinton then repeated a now debunked claim.

"I mean, one of the first things that, you know, Trump signed as president was to reverse President Obama's order that people with, you know, serious mental health problems should not be able to buy guns, and so he signed it, and aren't you happy that people we already know who have mental health problems can now buy guns," she asked Fallon's audience sarcastically. "I mean, this makes no sense, and the vast majority of Americans, and the vast majority of gun owners know we need common sense gun safety measures, so I'm going to keep fighting for it. Keep speaking out about it."

Even Snopes.com acknowledges it's untrue Americans suffering mental illness can freely buy firearms. 

"The repeal does not change any actual firearm regulations; there have been (and still are) laws on the books that prohibit the sale of guns to some groups of people based on mental illness," reports Snopes.

Snopes continues: 

Technically speaking, however, it was (and remains to this day) already illegal to sell guns to anyone “who has been adjudicated as a mental defective or who has been committed to a mental institution” per Title 18 section 922(g) of the United States Code. “Adjudicated as mental defective”, the Obama administration argued, is further clarified in an Alcohol, Tobacco Products and Firearms regulation (Title 27 U.S.C. section 478.11) to be:

(a) A determination by a court, board, commission, or other lawful authority that a person, as a result of marked subnormal intelligence, or mental illness, incompetency, condition, or disease:

(1) Is a danger to himself or to others; or

(2) Lacks the mental capacity to contract or manage his own affairs.

(b) The term shall include—

(1) A finding of insanity by a court in a criminal case; and

(2) Those persons found incompetent to stand trial or found not guilty by reason of lack of mental responsibility pursuant to articles 50a and 72b of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 U.S.C. 850a, 876b.

What actually happened is the Obama Administration created an information-sharing system wherein the Social Security Administration would relay to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System names of those receiving disability benefits. The idea was that if Americans are receiving disability benefits, they might also be mentally unfit to bear arms. 

This regulation came under attack not only from the NRA, but also from civil rights groups like the NRA. Contrary to what Clinton claimed on The Tonight Show, it had yet to take effect, and it remains impossible for Americans deemed mentally unfit to buy arms.