This week, CNN reported on what they labeled a “secret” provision put in the healthcare law by Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) that was aimed at keeping gun-right groups from opposing the law. Conservatives have long argued that since most members of Congress did not read the law, there are several parts of it that we do not yet understand. This CNN report gave conservatives hope that some of those parts may even have ended up benefiting some conservative causes.
CNN claimed that the provision stated that ‘Government cannot collect: “…any information relating to — (A) The lawful ownership or possession of a firearm or ammunition.”‘
Hot Air, Breitbart News and several other conservative sites picked up on that description and reported it as positive news for gun right advocates. But CNN omitted a key part of that section of the law, which gives the provision a very different meaning. The full section states:
‘(2) LIMITATION ON DATA COLLECTION.—None of the
authorities provided to the Secretary under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act or an amendment made by that
Act shall be construed to authorize or may be used for the
collection of any information relating to—
‘‘(A) the lawful ownership or possession of a firearm
or ammunition;
‘‘(B) the lawful use of a firearm or ammunition; or
‘‘(C) the lawful storage of a firearm or ammunition.’
This means that the provision does not actually prevent the collection of any such data, instead it clarifies that nothing in the new law explicitly grants the government power to collect that information. In other words, if other laws or orders allow for the collection of the data described above, this provision will do nothing to reverse that.
While it is true that we are still figuring out exactly what was in this monstrous 2800 page bill, this specific provision is not really the silver lining some people were looking for.
