This Reuters’ analysis raises some excellent policy questions regarding gun posession and schizophrenia.
There are complications of course in the implementation of any policy, but I would like to see public policy reflect public safety over individual rights to own a firearm.
Passage of that bill to strengthen the background check system was prompted when a deranged gunman killed himself and 32 others in April 2007 at Virginia Tech University — the deadliest shooting rampage in modern U.S. history.
It turned out that the Virginia Tech shooter, university student Seung-Hui Cho, had been judged an “imminent danger” to himself and others. But that court finding was not submitted to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).
Since the 2008 measure to bolster the system became law, the number of records entered in the FBI registry of people deemed by courts to be dangerously mentally ill has more than doubled to about 1 million.
But that tally is still less than half of the total number of people — over 2 million — estimated to have been so adjudicated in the United States, the Brady Campaign says.
Arizona, for example, has submitted more than 4,400 names of persons ineligible to buy guns due to mental illness since 2008, a fraction of the nearly 122,000 estimated to have been officially judged dangerously mentally ill in the state since 1989, according to figures compiled by the Brady Campaign.
What happened in Az was a terrible tragedy. However, for those arguing for laws on incarcerating people with mental illness, or stricter gun control laws, or restrictions on the media, I think you should read this statement from Mario Cuomo (former gov of NY) about the death penalty (he was opposed):
Tell the NRA.
Fg68at,
I did not read the entire blog but have a lot of agreement with her thinking. There are many people with a diagnosed mental illness that are suitable for firearm ownership.
Something personal from a Bipolar:
http://www.pamshouseblend.com/diary/18407/q-of-the-day-should-i-be-able-to-buy-a-gun
Here is interesting, informed analysis:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2011/01/12/krauthammer_every_sign_points_to_paranoid_schizophrenia.html
exclusion and exclude in one sentence…bad sentence.
Laws exist in many localities to prevent the SMI from owning firearms.
What happened in Az was a terrible tragedy. However, for those arguing for laws on incarcerating people with mental illness, or stricter gun control laws, or restrictions on the media, I think you should read this statement from Mario Cuomo (former gov of NY) about the death penalty (he was opposed):
Here is interesting, informed analysis:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2011/01/12/krauthammer_every_sign_points_to_paranoid_schizophrenia.html
exclusion and exclude in one sentence…bad sentence.
Laws exist in many localities to prevent the SMI from owning firearms.
The exclusion for firearm ownership is limited in many localities to exclude the mentally ill.
At the New Republic, they are calling for strengthening Institutionalization Laws:
http://www.tnr.com/blog/william-galston/81228/the-tucson-shooter-and-the-case-involuntary-commitment?utm_source=Editors+and+Bloggers&utm_campaign=864e9a4638-Edit_and_Blogs&utm_medium=email
The exclusion for firearm ownership is limited in many localities to exclude the mentally ill.
At the New Republic, they are calling for strengthening Institutionalization Laws:
http://www.tnr.com/blog/william-galston/81228/the-tucson-shooter-and-the-case-involuntary-commitment?utm_source=Editors+and+Bloggers&utm_campaign=864e9a4638-Edit_and_Blogs&utm_medium=email
Fg68at,
I did not read the entire blog but have a lot of agreement with her thinking. There are many people with a diagnosed mental illness that are suitable for firearm ownership.
Tell the NRA.
Something personal from a Bipolar:
http://www.pamshouseblend.com/diary/18407/q-of-the-day-should-i-be-able-to-buy-a-gun