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On 15 February 2017, the United States Senate backed a joint resolution already passed by the House of Representatives that aimed to block an Obama administration rule that sought to limit the sale of guns to some groups of mentally disabled individuals: This rule, finalized on 19 December 2016 in the final days of the Obama presidency, used the implementation of the National Instant Criminal Background Check Improvement Amendments Act of 2007 to require the Social Security Administration to report to the Attorney General individuals receiving certain kinds of Social Security mental health disability benefits so that this information could be used in firearm background checks: 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: Under the Obama rule, information from the Social Security Administration regarding mental disability benefits would be added to the National Instant Criminal Background Check database for use in firearm background checks. The Obama rule, a response to the 2012 Sandy Hook Massacre, had been praised by gun control advocates, but opposed by gun rights groups, disability advocacy groups, and civil liberty groups. This repeal used an obscure rule called Congressional Review Act, which can invalidate certain regulations passed by a previous administration when a simple majority of both chambers and a president's signature — a rule invoked many times early in Trump’s presidency to remove regulations passed by Obama. Enforcement of this Obama regulation would not have begun until 19 December 2017.
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