http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/04/03/-gun-control-debate-clouds-definition-of-mentally-ill
mentally ill are not the primary killers criminals and gun posessors are.
Who among the mentally ill should not be allowed to have a gun?
That was the question debated by mental health experts, members of law enforcement, gun control advocates and gun violence researchers in a conference at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore last month. "There are mental illness diagnoses that do increase your risk of violence," says Josh Horwitz, who organized the event and is executive director of the gun control group Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. "But identifying which [diagnoses] those are and who those people are is going to be difficult."
The consequences for trying to link a diagnosis to violent behavior became clear after it was revealed that Newtown shooter Adam Lanza was possibly autistic. The autism community came out in full force to debunk any report that tried to draw such a link. And recent research shows the risk of violent acts committed by those with mental health diagnoses as part of the total population was just 3-5 percent.
And yet the same question of gun access for the mentally ill will be posed to members of the Senate when they come back from recess Monday and consider legislation that asks for tougher gun background checks for those deemed mentally incompetent.
red herring, the problem over all are guns, they claim those who want to kill will find another way if guns are not around, we already know the stats on them being here is that not worth finding out what they would be if they were not around?
Current federal law says any person who has been formally committed to a mental institution, such as by court order, or who has been adjudicated as a so-called "mental defective," cannot get access to a gun.
Those standards aren't condoned by mental health professionals, who say the term "mental defective" is deeply offensive, as well as not clearly defined. Gun control groups, meanwhile, say the law doesn't do nearly enough to keep guns away from people who shouldn't have them.
And even gun rights groups have problems with the current system, with the NRA saying recently that states needed to do a better job at submitting names of the mentally ill to the National Instant Criminal Background System (NICS). The NRA is right that states haven't been great at compliance – almost 20 states submitted fewer than 100 mental health records to the database as of October 2012, according toresearch from the gun control group Mayors Against Illegal Guns.
NRA left out that they spend millions toblock or delay any legilation to do just that hypocrite does not fit the bill, thats like telling you you need water to live then set about pollutting it, oh they are already doing that so good point.
the only suggestions they come up with are seling more guns and death and destruction, all the training in the world does not prepare you when it's pointed at you and making loud noises you might not hear.
Who among the mentally ill should not be allowed to have a gun?
That was the question debated by mental health experts, members of law enforcement, gun control advocates and gun violence researchers in a conference at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore last month. "There are mental illness diagnoses that do increase your risk of violence," says Josh Horwitz, who organized the event and is executive director of the gun control group Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. "But identifying which [diagnoses] those are and who those people are is going to be difficult."
And yet the same question of gun access for the mentally ill will be posed to members of the Senate when they come back from recess Monday and consider legislation that asks for tougher gun background checks for those deemed mentally incompetent.
Current federal law says any person who has been formally committed to a mental institution, such as by court order, or who has been adjudicated as a so-called "mental defective," cannot get access to a gun.
Those standards aren't condoned by mental health professionals, who say the term "mental defective" is deeply offensive, as well as not clearly defined. Gun control groups, meanwhile, say the law doesn't do nearly enough to keep guns away from people who shouldn't have them.
And even gun rights groups have problems with the current system, with the NRA saying recently that states needed to do a better job at submitting names of the mentally ill to the National Instant Criminal Background System (NICS). The NRA is right that states haven't been great at compliance – almost 20 states submitted fewer than 100 mental health records to the database as of October 2012, according toresearch from the gun control group Mayors Against Illegal Guns.
