By Scott Keyes on Jan 22, 2013 at 3:20
pm
Rep. Jason Lankford (R-OK)
Rep. James Lankford (R-OK), the fifth-ranking House
Republican, laid the blame for gun violence at the feet of an unusual suspect:
the children of “welfare moms” who commit fraud.
In a meeting with
constituents earlier this month in Oklahoma City, a woman asked the GOP
congressman what he was doing to combat all the children who were committing
gun violence because they were high on psychotropic drugs. Lankford replied
that he “agree[s] with that” and then went on to blame Social Security
disability fraud for the rash of gun violence around the country. “Quite
frankly some of the overmedication of kids are because welfare moms want to get
additional benefits,” Lankford said:
CONSTITUENT: My question is regarding the guns and is Washington at all aware
of the psychotropic drugs that these children are taking? I
guarantee it 100 percent that’s our big problem. [...]
LANKFORD: I agree with
that. I think there’s a bunch of issues that, quite frankly, most liberals are
afraid to talk about. [...] Where are we on all those psychiatric drugs? We’ve overmedicated kids. Quite frankly some of the overmedication
of kids are because welfare moms want to get additional benefits and if they
can put them on SSI through maintenance drugs, they can also put them on Social
Security disability and get a separate check. That is wrong on every single
level. Not only is it fraudulent to the government, but it also
tells a kid with great potential, “don’t try because you’re disabled.”
Watch it:
The fact that it’s even
necessary to dispel the notion that Social Security disability fraud is
responsible for gun violence in the United States is a reflection of just how
desperate Republicans are to blame anything but guns for gun violence, but here goes.
In Fiscal Year 2011, the
Inspector General’s office opened up 4,600 fraud cases related to Social
Security disability programs. This number includes a wide variety of fraud,
including lying about one’s marital status, stealing money from someone who has
died, or unreported income. The actual number of people committing the type of
fraud Lankford describes is a minuscule fraction. Meanwhile, nearly 10,000 people are gunned down in an
average year.
Situations like this beg
for an application of Occam’s Razor. Which seems more likely to contribute to
gun violence: “welfare moms” overmedicating their kids in order to commit
Social Security fraud, or the vast proliferation of guns and how easy it is to obtain one?
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