Op-ed:
A must...keeping guns out of the hands
of the mentally ill
By: Diane Sori
Yesterday while 'Prince Harry' announced that the so-called 'assault weapons ban' will NOT be part of the gun control legislation the Senate will be discussing next month (even though Diane Feinstein says she will try to get the ban as an amendment), Obama let it be known that he will indeed support the UN Treaty to Restrict Arms, which we all know would be used to regulate 'We the People's' firearms.
So while we firearm owners won one battle another looms (thanks to our Constitution trampling Traitor-in Chief) but what everyone still does NOT want to discuss is that here in America the biggest offenders of existing firearms laws are the mentally ill.
As Wayne LaPierre, the NRA's executive vice-president says, “it's still too easy for criminals and the dangerously ill to get their hands on guns.”
How right he is as both Congress and state legislatures continue debating what should be no-brainer proposals for increased supervision of the mentally ill along with mandatory reporting of those seen as a danger to themselves or others. But what's NOT generally known is that over the past four years, thanks to Barack HUSSEIN Obama, $4.35 billion was cut from Medicaid for mental-health funding, substance abuse, housing, and other mental-health programs at the state and federal level causing the system to be overburdened, so that the mentally ill are released back into our neighborhoods to put us in danger.
Remember, Obama has to be able to funnel dollars from somewhere into the freebies and handouts to keep his sheeple in line you know.
And while governors and lawmakers across the political spectrum, in the wake of Newtown, push for more dollars to help those with mental illness, especially in light of the fact that a major 2011 study shows that states that make it easier to treat people with mental illness have lower murder rates, the mentally ill are still legally able to purchase firearms in all 50 states.
And into this conundrum now comes Senator Lindsey Graham (SC-R), a man who has been wrong on a lot of issues lately, who last week proposed legislation that would help keep firearms out of the hands of the mentally ill, and on this particular issue I feel he is 'dead on'...and I use that term specifically because if something isn't done about the mentally ill securing firearms a lot more people will die.
And
while I'm 100% in support of the Second Amendment and our right to
keep and bear arms, and I'm totally against the lefts so wanted gun
control measures, including any universal background checks (which is
simply a rouse to create a national gun registry so Obama can
confiscate 'We the People's' firearms whenever he wants...or so he
thinks), I strongly believe that firearms of any kind must be kept
out of the hands of the mentally ill...for our safety and our
children's safety.
“I believe that the best way to interrupt the shooter is to have a mental health system that actually records and enters into the database people who should not be able to buy a gun,” Graham said.
Senator Graham's proposal addresses just that. Beginning with requiring that people deemed mentally ill be added to the National Instant Criminal Background System (the database for all new gun sales), Graham feels would be a start to keeping the general public safe as people with severe mental illness, like schizophrenia, are up to three times more likely to be violent. And 1,000 homicides or more a year are committed by people with severe mental illnesses like schizophrenia.
Remember, most mass shooters, including the Virgina Tech shooter, the Aurora Movie Massacre shooter and the Newtown shooter were indeed mentally ill, and their families knew it and they were being treated to one degree or another yet they still were able to get guns...in the Aurora shooters case he bought them legally both in gun shops and online. Graham's proposal calls for individuals such as this to be added to the database along with those posing an imminent danger to themselves or others, those found guilty but mentally ill in a criminal case, those found guilty by reason of insanity, those found incompetent to stand trial, those committed to a psychiatric hospital or required to have psychiatric outpatient treatment...and these shooters met at least one if NOT more of these criteria.
According to Graham's proposal, those being banned from owning or purchasing firearms would be decided by the courts, and hopefully the many bleeding heart liberal judges currently presiding would realize that it's been proven that the rates of so-called 'gun violence' balances closely with the mentally ill having accessibility to firearms.
And while Federal laws (some going back to 1968) currently mandate background checks to help keep convicted felons and people with mental illnesses from legally acquiring guns (no one can stop the illegal purchases), these restrictions only apply to firearms purchased by licensed dealers but NOT through private sales, and unfortunately, these records are NOT present in the federal database, because states aren't sharing enough information. Graham's proposal would help close that gap.
But I'd like to add one more thing to Senator Graham's proposal, and that is that any parent with a mentally ill child living in their home should have their firearms locked up at ALL times that child is present in the home. Twenty children and six adults might still be alive in Newtown today if that was the case. But please note that I said 'locked up' NOT surrender their firearms as that would violate the parent's Second Amendment rights.
And so the gun control debate rages on and hopefully fails on all accounts except for this issue with the mentally ill for as Florida Senator Marco Rubio says. “... Rolling back responsible citizens’ rights is not the proper response to tragedies committed by criminals and the mentally ill.”
How right he is and remember...guns don't kill people, people kill people...and only mentally ill people commit mass murder as NO sane person goes out to deliberately slaughter innocents.
http://thepatriotfactor.blogspot.com/2013/03/op-ed-must.html
2 comments:
The ONLY people, aside from minors, who should be prohibited from purchasing guns are those with a documented history of committing violent crime.
99.999999999999% of people being treated for mental illness never have and never will go on a shooting spree.
The tens of millions of Americans with some form of mental illness have just as much a right to protect themselves and their families with a gun as other Americans do.
Denying these people the right of self-defense against perpetrators of domestic violence, home invasions, muggings, rape and other violent crimes is a surefire way to INCREASE the number of homicides nationwide, NOT DECREASE their number.
The unintended consequences of the proposed gun restrictions for the mentally ill would be devastating.
Although well-intentioned, these restrictions are counterproductive.
Mental illness is not a crime.
Let's not treat it like it is.
Absolutely NOT true...most if NOT all mass shooters have a history of mental illness. And I did NOT say ALL those with mental illness should NOT have firearms...I said those with a violent history and those with psychotic illnesses and I stand by that for you never know when the voices in their heads will tell them to kill.
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