Smoke screen

Another very interesting letter. One thing I think everyone can agree on is too many people in government and business know way too much about each and every one of us.

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"Now here is the smoke screen anything that is written into a computer will be used in future gun background checks."

Now that's an outlandishly stupid statement.

Everyone talks about "mental health" with regards to stricter gun control. I think a fantastic question is if the kind of extreme paranoia displayed in this letter preclude someone from owning a gun?

What if someone writes a letter to the paper openly stating that they hear voices, that tell the letter writer to do things? The person displays utterly insane behavior publicly. Should they be legally prevented from buying a gun? If so, how? What if there's no official medical diagnosis the person is crazy, but it's clear to 95% of the people the person is disturbed? What if it's only clear to 60% of people, and the other 40% think the person is fine?

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Everyone seems to want to scream "mental health", but how, in practice, do you keep a gun away from someone that seems to the average person, a borderline threat to public safety? Force people to go to a mental health professional? How?

It's estimated that over 25% of Americans suffer from some sort of mental disorder. These problems can range from the mild to quite severe, and the vast majority are undiagnosed.

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Hi all, I'm in our nations capital this weekend and it's actually quite nice.. a little cold but with a lovely dusting of snow..

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"Hi all, I'm in our nations capital this weekend and it's actually quite nice.. a little cold but with a lovely dusting of snow"

Have a great time Buff. I love DC.

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Mr. Hayes, here is another example of your failure to pay attention to what the adminstration is seeking. They want to put Doctors in the position of reporting individuals seeking mental health care and ban or confiscate the guns from them. It's part of their stated goals for solving gun violence. How then is it that when those of us who believe in the 2nd Amendment argue for liberty, you claim we are paranoid? Is somebody really paranoid if the government really is after them? What VP Biden has asked for is clearly a violation of current medical HIPA law but that won't matter to this administration. They can just make it up as they go. When we learn to punish the offenders and leave the law abiding alone?

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You state "what if there's no official medical diagnosis the person is crazy". Define crazy. Do we have to take every gun away from every person who seeks assistance for depression? If so, all you will do is drop the sales of prozac and other drugs because people will avoid the health care system if they think they will lose their rights to own firearms. That will only make the gun violence issue get worse. Secondly you state that 95% people know the person is disturbed. What is 95% of those who right to SG decide you are the one who is disturbed? Do we start one of the administration's famous petitions to declare Chris Hayes disturbed and take his Constitutional Rights away from him? So I my opinion are not misunderstood, I am a Libertarian at heart but I understand there will be some restraints on our rights. Stricter gun registration and background regulations are going to be a reality. The concern is that in the past, governments have used it as a first step to confiscat

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"Everyone talks about "mental health" with regards to stricter gun control." The problem is that each and every one of the medications that are prescribed, can and do create behavioral problems. The Physicians' Desk Reference lists the following adverse reactions (side effects) to antidepressants among a host of other physical and neuropsychiatric effects. Manic Reaction (Mania, e.g., Kleptomania, Pyromania, Dipsomania, Nymphomania) Hypomania (e.g., poor judgment, over spending, impulsivity, etc.) Abnormal Thinking Hallucinations Personality Disorder Amnesia Agitation Psychosis Abnormal Dreams Emotional Lability (Or Instability) Alcohol Abuse and/or Craving Hostility Paranoid Reactions Confusion Delusions Sleep Disorders Akathisia (Severe Inner Restlessness) Discontinuation (Withdrawal) Syndrome Impulsivity

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Many individuals have none of these symptoms prior to being treated and medicated. If an individual has not caused or created a crime then it is an interference with that indivduals rights. America is a nation of individual rights not group rights, no matter what the majority may wish. The FDA published a Health Advisory on March 22, 2004 that reiterates several of these side effects and states "Anxiety, agitation, panic attacks, insomnia, irritability, hostility, impulsivity, akathisia (severe restlessness), hypomania, and mania have been reported in adult and pediatric patients being treated with antidepressants for major depressive disorder as well as for other indications, both psychiatric and non-psychiatric." Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, Volume 14, Number 1, Spring 2009, there is an article by Joel M. Kauffman, Ph.D., titled: Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI) Drugs: More Risk Than Benefits?"

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"The International Coalition for Drug Awareness in cooperation with the Prozac Survivors Support Group has produced a website on which about 1,600 violent incidents (Today it stands at over 4800) associated with SSRI use are described. —hardly a small number— the association of SSRIs with murder/suicide, often combined, must be taken seriously."

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There is no constitutional right to privacy.

I'm not saying that that is it way it should be, I'm saying that it is so.

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Psychiatrists and physicians who are prescribing major psychiatric drugs should be mandatory reporters. Clearly there is a reasonable standard.When an individual is given an anti-anxiety drug following a significant life event for short duration no report should be needed. However, if someone is on long term anti-psychotics, have multiple major disorder diagnosis, they do not need a gun. A vast difference exists between a short and long term treatment. HIPPA should not cover severe mental illness. If you think you want paranoid schizophrenics who may or may not comply with their medication regimen protected by HIPPA, you might went to spend a bit more time talking to professionals who understand the spontaneity and sudden onset of episodes.

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" Define crazy."

Sure that's pretty easy. Someone who has almost uncontrollable impulses to do violence to people for no apparent reason. Someone who hears voices. Someone who is so paranoid, that they litterally need to sit around theiir house with a loaded gun on their lap, because they think any minute people are going to burst through to door intent on killing them. Someone who sees conspiracies against them personally everywhere.they look. People that talk to their bar of soap in the shower in the morning, and think the bar of soap understands them.

That's crazy, and instead of giving people like that firearms, we should be giving them help.

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Now, let's get to the point that many gun rights people here in this community AND on the national stage have said recently, that we should prevent people that are mentally ill from obtaining firearms. How? Please.tell us how you propose doing that. If you have absolutely no idea how to do that, then I'd say the title of this letter applies to you.

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" When we learn to punish the offenders and leave the law abiding alone?"

So you're solution is to wait until someone kills 4, or 5, or 20 people, and THEN take their guns away? Well that makes sense, unless you or a family member or friend are one of the people killed.

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I know someone who has a spouse that had pretty severe mental health issues. He would suddenly order his wife and son to go hide in the basement, and start dragging furniture in front of doors to barricade them because he thought people were trying to get in their house to hurt them.

How would anyone here propose keeping someone like that from buying an AR15, and a bunch.of high capacity magazines? Just ask if he's feeling alright?

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With regards to your 9:37 AM post Mr. Hayes, the story that you tell is quite disturbing and no doubt occurs in some similar fashion everywhere. And your last point is inarguable, though some here will still argue with you simply because they are unable to see past your political affiliation and thus think with some level of reason. That kind of thing occurs on both sides of the aisle, and unfortunately does little to make us a stronger and more cohesive nation.

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We've been yammering on about this ling enough now, and enough people from the left and right both have said that people with mental health issues should be prohibited from owning firearms.

I'd just like someone, anyone, to tell me how in the real world, if guns are readily and easily available, you prevent someone having issues Luke my friends spouse was several years ago from purchasing guns?

I don't think that's an unreasonable question to ask.

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"I'd just like someone, anyone, to tell me how in the real world, if guns are readily and easily available, you prevent someone having issues Luke my friends spouse was several years ago from purchasing guns?" The answer, Mr. Hayes, is that you can't prevent it.

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Or, perhaps the answer is that there is no answer. Either way, this is at the core of the dilemma and why some level of compromise from both sides is necessary.

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Any one hear of blind rage? When a stable person goes of the deep end for what ever reason. Now put a gun in that persons hand.

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Is there no answer as you stated or is there no acceptable answer that has been given?

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Mr. Reeder, there probably is an answer and that answer is prohibiting the sale of guns that can pull off 30 rounds in 3 seconds or less. Why would anyone need that to defend themselves against anything or anybody?

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An addendum: Perhaps the best compromise is to allow AR-15's to be sold, but do allow magazines in excess of 10 rounds to be sold.

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Sorry, I meant don't allow magazines in excess of 10 round to be sold

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