Editor, Gazette-Journal:

I was surprised to read Representative Wittman’s letter (“A vote explanation,” Feb. 23 Readers Write) regarding his position to nullify the regulation that added individuals receiving disability benefits on the basis of mental impairment to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). He stated that he based his vote on the Second and Fifth Amendments to the Constitution.

First as background, the regulation in question was developed following the requirements of the Administrative Procedures Act (APA) which resulted in a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the Federal Register on May 5, 2016 for all stakeholders to read and provide comments. The comment period ended on July 5, 2016 and 91,243 comments were received (86,860 were identical and 324 signatures were on one comment letter).

As required by the APA the remaining 4,059 comments were responded to by the Social Security Administration (SSA) and either accepted in the Fin...