What to do

[Waywardson174]

Given the amount of blame our community rightly places on mental incapacity being to blame, what are we willing to do about it?

A friend's proposal is this: Purchase of a firearm requires production of a certificate of mental capacity. Certificates are obtained by conducting a 1 hour interview with a state-certified psychiatrist. This would require development of interview standards and a slew of other intricacies.

An easier to swallow standard for most of us, but less protective: Determine a list of disorders which legally incapacitate the sufferer from firearm purchase. Incorporate mandatory diagnosis reporting to the ATF (with 6 month intervals of retest, re diagnosis permitted).

I propose this because I don't think we can appropriately say that these are the acts of sick people, but not try to limit the access of those people to firearms. I know Lanza didn't buy the guns, but I feel either of these measures are good faith ground we can give to address what we see as the problem without having to endure what we know are ineffectual restrictions on specific firearm types.

Your thoughts please.

[Irving]

I can't deliver my thoughts on this without swearing at you. I disagree.

[TEAMRICO]

FUUUUUUCCCKKK NO.

[Waywardson174]

Im a big boy, I can take it. but don't just swear, give me the substantive underpinnings.

[sroz]

Hell NO........

[Bailey Guns]

You have the nerve to use Thomas Jefferson in your signature line yet you come up with something like this? With "friends" like you who needs enemies on the left? If you can't figure out the negative "substantive underpinnings" to your suggestion on your own, nothing I can say here is going to convince you that this is about the worst idea I've seen re: Constitutional rights and liberties in a long time.

What is wrong with you so-called pro-gun people coming up with more and more ways to infringe on a Constitutional right? I feel like this site has been hacked by the lefty extremists on the DailyKos.

FFS, Scotty! Beam me up the fuck outta here. All intelligent life is gone.

[opie011]

All I gotta say....

[Bailey Guns]

I swear. The fight hasn't even started yet and a few of you guys are already figuring out how give up. Oh, well. Reading some of these suggestions secures in my mind those I don't want anywhere near me in a real battle.

[Kraven251]

Tag your it, my bad idea was better than this bad idea (and mine was a really bad idea), sorry mate, but you are gonna take a beating on this one.


The problem with these ideas is they don't just take what you come up with, they take it and turn it and twist it and make it look pretty and in the end we are all deemed unfit to own, and then when we bitch it will be said ..."It was your idea in the first place"

[Irving]

Im a big boy, I can take it. but don't just swear, give me the substantive underpinnings.

Let's start with why you have the impression that a one hour chat with someone is going to give an idea if someone is mentally stable or not.
Then we can discuss why you feel it is acceptable to have to pass a mental test to exercise a right.
After that we can talk about where you would set the threshold for what is mentally ill behavior, and what is not, and who will write the test.

Do you have any experience with DUI stuff? They make you take classes, and in the class you have to fill out a very personal questionnaire. One of the questions is, "How often do you cry at sad movies?" The options are Always, Sometimes, Never. If you select never, they accuse you of lying. If you select Sometimes, they diagnose you with depression and recommend an entirely different government class to help you with your "problem". I shudder to think what happens if you said always. This test is administered by someone working the alcohol class, and the results are looked at and grade by a person who has never even spoken with you and only knows what is in your criminal or driving record. Don't you dare cry in frustration when trying to defend against such ludicrous charges, because the response is, "See? This is exactly what I'm talking about. You clearly have a problem."

Your suggestion is offering up a nightmare of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, in the hopes that it will save gun rights. In reality, you'll just lose out on both ends.
Please abandon whatever further ideas you have about this. You are thinking about this incorrectly, and merely suggesting ideas like this is dangerous for the entire nation. Cease and desist.