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Mental health checks sound like a good idea, but there is a risk that it prevents people from actually seeking help. See the way mental illness is treated in a
by initplus 4y ago
Mental health checks sound like a good idea, but there is a risk that it prevents people from actually seeking help.
See the way mental illness is treated in aviation - mental health care is inaccessible to pilots because seeking help for serious issues will put a black mark on your record and end your career. So pilots with serious mental health issues intentionally avoid getting help.
Not that it's a bad idea just that it's not as easy as it seems. Penalties for seeking medical care push people away from seeking care and in turn make the health issues worse.
- ok_dad 4y agoYea, I've been through mental stuff as well in a career where it runined my future (I had to switch careers), but honestly if a mental health doctor thinks you might be a danger, then perhaps you shouldn't own guns for a period of time. Perhaps a system where doctors can report "this person is a danger to themselves or others at this time" and then after 1 year the report is scrubbed from the database. I do understand this is a "slippery slope" and perhaps it is hard to not have "false positives" (aka: people who lose access to guns who shouldn't have), however I prefer a small rate of "false positive gun removals" to a small rate of young children getting shot in the face. To me, as someone who has owned guns and even concealed carried them for several years, I would happily trade all of my guns and the perceived "defense" they provided me for a reduced mass-shootings rate.