Hero intern urging tighter gun laws

[kpete]

Source: The Hill

Hero intern urging tighter gun laws
By Mike Lillis - 01/24/11 08:50 PM ET

The 20-year-old intern credited with saving the life of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is urging President Obama to support tougher gun laws in response to the deadly Arizona shootings.

Daniel Hernandez, the intern who rushed to treat Giffords (D-Ariz.) after she was shot Jan. 8 in Tucson, is endorsing a new proposal from Mayors Against Illegal Guns that will require states to report mental-health cases to a federal database designed to screen gun purchases.

He will sit with Michelle Obama on Tuesday when her husband delivers the State of the Union address.

“It is my hope that President Obama and Congress will work together right away to reform our gun background-check system so that all records of dangerous people are in the system and all gun buyers will have to pass a thorough background check,” Hernandez said Monday in a statement.

Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/house/139861-hero-aide-in-ariz-shooting-backs-tighter-gun-laws

[jaxx]

1. Good for him.

This has got to be addressed.

[Kingofalldems]

2. Absolutely.

[hlthe2b]

3. So he wil now be villainized, I suppose by the gun crowd...

One would think that anyone who lived through what he did would have earned the right to feel this way about guns. But, then look at how Sarah and James Brady and Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy (husband/son victims of Long Island Railroad massacre) are portrayed. :shrug:

[gejohnston]

5. Not all are the same

Although I understand where they come from, Brady is intellectually dishonest and is awash in logical fallacies. Congresswoman McCarthy sometimes brings it on herself when she doesn't know what she is talking about. Once I saw her ranting about the super expensive .50 BMG rifle. The rifle itself is worth discussing but in the same press conference she started making absurd statement about heat seeking bullets then something about incendiary rounds. Neither exist, unless she was trying to describe tracer rounds which are not available for civilian or police use and never have been to my knowledge.

[Kolesar]

6. James Brady plotted to get shot and he's a Republican

And if she weighs the same as a duck, she's a witch!!

[MineralMan]

4. Good for him!

[X_Digger]

7. Unclear if he's endorsing the latest MAIG proposal or what..

The latest MAIG proposal (http://www.observer.com/2011/politics/mayors-push-enforcement-background-checks ) is couched in language purporting to not be an actual change in the law, but buried in their press release is their perennial 'gun show loophole' proposal- which would have had no bearing on the Tucson shooter.

It's already illegal for a convicted felon, someone who has been adjudicated a danger to themselves or others, etc to purchase a firearm.

If MAIG is proposing (and Hernandez is endorsing) making sure that all such records are entered into the NICS, we can agree.

If MAIG is proposing (and Hernandez is endorsing) some new restriction that says someone who is in treatment for any kind of mental illness should have their right to a firearm removed- that'll never fly, if for no other reason than due process.

[bossy22]

8. misleading headline

it sounds like Mr. Hernandez is endorsing more reporting into the NICS. Seems like the same thing after VT

[mwooldri]

9. I have a mental illness and I hope this comes to pass.

I don't have and don't want a gun. I don't care if anyone else has a gun for legal means and are mentally stable but I want to be kept safe from myself. I do have sound judgment 99.9% of the time but when I get into a suicidal state (from severe depression) I don't want access to things that could kill me. I want safety. One thing less - it would help me.

[bossy22]

10. its very noble of you to say this

but we have to ask ourselves what kind of invasion of medical privacy are we willing to accept. Almost no one thinks that mentally ill people should have easy access to firearms, but how do we define/track people who are mentally ill. Would you be okay with having to go to a government employed psychologist/psychiatrist every 6 months and have your status recorded in a govt database? We want to prohibit people who have these issues from buying guns but our civil rights and privacy protections complicate the issue