4 ms·
How about a background check and a mental check? Gun owners always call it a mental health crisis, so let's make sure all new gun owners are vetted and have to
by armada651 7y ago
How about a background check and a mental check? Gun owners always call it a mental health crisis, so let's make sure all new gun owners are vetted and have to pass a psychological exam.
- ThrowawayR2 7y ago> How about a background check and a mental check? That would pretty much guarantee that people who need mental health services would deliberately avoid getting it to prevent it from showing up on their records, e.g. a security guard who needs to carry a firearm for their job.
- basementcat 7y agoIt gets worse. If you’re flagged with a mental illness, most states will yank your professional license (you lose your job and possible primary income). Our society has an economic incentive to underreport mental illness.
- armada651 7y agoIt would not be optional to do the mental exam.
- ThrowawayR2 7y ago> It would not be optional to do the mental exam. Uh, what do you think a psychiatric exam is? There's no crazy-o-meter that they stick into an orifice to objectively determine whether you're mentally ill or not. You simply get asked a series of questions which you can reply to in any way you like.
- umvi 7y agoHow do you define a "mental check"? "socially awkward people aren't allowed to have guns" as a policy would be a flagrant violation of a constitutional right. The scary thing is that mentally ill people can intentionally mask their illness in order to pass exams.
- eswat 7y agoReplying to the other comments under this reply: in Canada we check for past history of mental illness but don’t flag gun license applicants just because of that. They need to have a history of being treated due to illness that could lead to violence.
- sk5t 7y agoIn the interests of keeping things pari passu, how about implementing mental screenings as part of voter registration as well?