By all means, REPEAL THE DAMNED THING! The federal government should be doing all it can to FIGHT THE STIGMATIZING of people who suffer from mental illness and/or disability! Moreover, the term "mental defective" COULD be interpreted by the government to apply to anyone who disagrees with the government's views on any issue! It can also be used to justify robbing a person of one or more of his/her Constitutional rights!
The term "mental defective" has EXTREMELY negative connotations. It is highly demeaning and insulting!
If someone suffers from cancer, would you call that person a "physical defective"?! No! To do so would be extremely unkind and unsympathetic!
Mental illnesses and disabilities are NEURO-BIOLOGICAL brain disorders. The people who suffer from them deserve to be treated with the same respect and compassion that we show the cancer patient or the quadriplegic or anyone else with a diseased or injured body!
A lot of people shun those with mental disabilities out of fear and/or ignorance.
MENTAL DISORDERS ARE NOT CONTAGIOUS!
Yes, some people who suffer from a mental disorder can be a danger to others. They are far more likely to be a danger to themselves! That's often because of the way other people treat them. Depression can cause a person to lose hope, and it can increase the feeling of self-loathing, self-pity, and/or anxiety. Such people need a strong and caring support system! The LAST thing they need is to be treated with suspicion, or like their disability is a character flaw!
If someone is so disabled that they cannot manage their own affairs, they don't deserve to be treated like they're a burden to their family or to society. Neither do they deserve to be treated like Typhoid Mary! And neither do they deserve to be labeled in a way that diminishes their worth as a human being or increases their feeling of isolation.
THE NRA IS ABSOLUTELY RIGHT IN THEIR REASON FOR SUPPORTING H.J. Res. 40:
The National Rifle Association expressed its disapproval of the Obama administration’s rule, saying that it “would stigmatize the entire category of beneficiaries subject to reporting” without offering them due process. In a press release, the NRA added that the regulation would “doom tens of thousands of law-abiding (and vulnerable) disability insurance and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients to a loss of Second Amendment rights under the guise of re-characterizing them as ‘mental defectives’.”
https://www.nraila.org/articles/20161223/grandma-got-run-over-by-obama-ssa-finalizes-new-gun-prohibition-rule
I like what Countable member DeanLA said:
"I recommend you read the List of mental disorders referred to in the Description of this bill.
I laughed because the Democrats/ Liberals frequently display these mental disorders.
12.08 Personality and impulse-control disorders
1. Medical documentation of a pervasive pattern of one or more of the following:
Distrust and suspiciousness of others;
Disregard for and violation of the rights of others;
Excessive emotionality and attention seeking;
Recurrent, impulsive, aggressive behavioral outbursts.