The White House is denying requests to release photos of Donald Trump signing a bill that reversed an Obama-era gun rule to prevent those with extreme mental illness from getting a gun.
CBS News reported on Thursday that they requested 12 separate times to see photos of the president reversing the rule– and each time they were turned down.
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A little over a month after his inauguration, on Feb. 28, 2017, President Trump signed HJ Resolution 40, a bill that made it easier for people with mental illness to obtain guns. CBS News then asked the White House to release the photograph of Mr. Trump signing the bill, making the request a total of 12 times.
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White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders finally responded to repeated emails and phone calls with a one-line note on April 19, 2017, writing to CBS News, “We don’t plan to release the picture at this time.”
A White House photographer confirmed to CBS News that there are photos of the bill signing. Those photos won’t be seen unless the Trump administration releases them, though, because the White House is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act.
CBS News also noted that the rule Trump overturned “would have added about 75,000 names of mentally ill Americans to a database that would have stopped them from buying a gun.” Instead, the NRA-owned president decided these individuals should have access to high-power weaponry.
News of Trump’s move early in his administration has resurfaced since yesterday’s shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, which left 17 innocent people dead. During his first public remarks on the tragedy, which came a day late, Trump called for steps to be taken to address mental health issues.
The president’s move early in his presidency to terminate the Obama regulation took action to address part of that issues proves that Trump has no intention of following through on his promise.
It’s no surprise that he doesn’t want to release a photograph of him making it more likely, not less, for more tragedies like Parkland to happen in the future.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
