I do not want a gun, BUT

[Are_grits_groceries]

I really don't want my name on a list that will lable me as mentally ill and unstable.

I do not trust the people who will come up with the criteria for inclusion on that list. I also shudder at the thought of what the gun lobby will do in pushing this issue.

If they have to convince people that a better method to control gun violence is to control the mentally ill, they will spend eleventy billion dollars to do so. They will scare the bejesus out of people, and fear can make people irrational.

"Mentally ill" is a catchall phrase for many conditions. They can be very different. I don't trust others to make distinctions. In addition, don't tell me that psychiatrists will not allow this. They don't write the laws or choose who legislators consider to be experts. Unfortunately, I have run into some real loons with MDs in psychiatry who have ideas that are waaay out of the mainstream. I have run from them as quickly as I could.

I have never had any thoughts of hurting others. When I am deeply depressed. I am more a danger to myself. Guns make it so easy to choose "a very bad way" to escape the pain. The are quick and final. They offer no way to recover if you do try or have a really bad moment and completely give up. Many people do choose other ways but survive and feel the dark clouds lifting.

There are untold numbers of people who have problems that do need help. Some may just need counseling to get them through and stop the possibility of these problems from becoming a scary issue. Others need more intensive help that can still be provided as out patients. Then there are those in extremis that do need hospitalization.

The cuts in programs to help those with mental issues have consigned many to a living hell. It is beyond cruel to the person with the problem, their families, and others who are close to them. Giving in to continual cuts in these programs and to the sequester have made it exponentially worse. The funds for these services are a drop in the bucket compared to money spent on other wasteful programs.

Sermonette over.

[Recursion]

1. The mentally ill are most often victims of violence

Not perpetrators.

La Pierre is wrong as always here. The mentally ill are not who we should fear.
Edit: whom? Mixed case correlatives always got me.

[dkf]

2. What about if it were very specific?

Schizophrenia, paranoid, hearing voices.

I think that specific diagnosis should be acceptable criteria for not allowing gun purchases.

[Are_grits_groceries]

4. I'm not against a limited list.

However, I really fear that many people will end up on it who don't belong.

In addition, who determines who meets these criteria. It's not as cut and dried as it may seem.

[Half-Century Man]

3. When talking about background checks we keep the discussion at an "either or" level

Isn't there room for
1: background clear, can purchase firearms after waiting period of 5 days
2: some "tags" by designated persons (police, therapists, social workers) which required further explanations before purchase.
3: some condition or circumstance which requires further counseling, training, recompense, or judicial action before approval.
4: some condition of behavior or ability which prevents approval of owning a firearm.

[Are_grits_groceries]

5. Who's "WE"?

The we you are referring to may not be the we who ends up in charge.

[Half-Century Man]

6. I meant in the general conversation of the nation

As I have read things, we do seem a bit "dedicated" to one side or the other. I think there are several solutions to all the aspects of the questions/concerns we have on the armed citizen issue. I should have been more specific, gomen.

[hack89]

7. Better stay away from NY

one of their responses to Sandy Hook was an online database where mental health professionals can report potentially dangerous patients.

[DanTex]

8. The solution is to require a mental health examination before a gun purchase is allowed.

I agree, putting people on a list for seeking mental health treatment is a bad idea, and it would probably discourage people from getting mental health treatment in the first place.

But letting mentally ill people purchase guns is also a bad idea. So a gun purchase should require being examined and cleared by a mental health professional as part of the background check.