Do we have a broken gun control and monitoring system in the U.S? how is it possible for a mentally i'll maniac?

Question

virgin like Richard Elliot to have been able to carry out what he did? His parents called police and told them about some disturbing YouTube videos, Why didn't this automatically trigger a system that checks if the person is a gun owner or has been to a shooting range?

I don't know if we need stricter guns controls, what I do know is that we need better background and ongoing monitoring systems in place. Systems that can immediately detect if the person has been arrested, institutionalized, seen by a psychologist or psychiatrist and if so a cross check for gun ownership and shooting range visits. A smart system that can detect and prevent crime and these situations from arising and happening in the first place.

Answer 1

"I don't know if we need stricter guns controls,..."



It seems that CA has currently the most restrictive gun laws in the US of A.



Not totally effective.

Problem is, the laws on doctor/patient and HIPPA laws, coupled with the difficulty of getting someone involuntarily committed are so hashed up that people that truly need help are going without.



With disastrous results.

Answer 2

Why must gun control be in question here? We never needed it before? When we step back and examine the larger picture, what are we missing that we had years before? Simple... A mental health system. What we have now is nothing in comparison. We didn't modernize or update the system we had. We did away with it all together allowing severely mentally ill to self-treat (whatever that might be) or receive no treatment at all because surely we have no right to compel them to do so. We made a mistake. Now we experience the results. When will it be repaired?



Having a system in place that reports to a sales person reasons for denial of a purchase purmit, or having that purchase permit denied due to a bout of depression that occurred years ago and then result in a death because he/she was not able to protect themselves, at the verry least goes agains a few natural rights no to mention HIPAA. Then you have age issues and stolen firearm issues that gun control doesn't even touch.



Just fix the mental health system, not the symptom.

Answer 3

So what do you do with someone who sees a psychologist and you find that she owns guns and visits a gun range? The fact that someone seeks counseling does not make them dangerous. What if someone seeks psychiatric help to help deal with a rape and they have a firearm for the same reason, to protect herself?



You can't start trampling over everyone's rights because of a few crazies. It might make us a little safer but it is not worth what we would be giving up.

Answer 4

This is a country that believes in innocent until proven guilty. We let criminals go if we cannot prove the crime. Remember OJ? The same goes for mental competency. There is a due process and we cannot give the police the right to make that determination or it will be abused. Can it be provided? Hope so, but we do not want to give the government absolute power to declare someone mentally incompentent.

Answer 5

Guns are very expensive. I think a handgun costs something $300 plus bullets maybe another $100. The gun shop just wants to make money.

Answer 6

Yes, the system is broken. What to do? Why not persuade all the gun nuts to enlist in some other country's Foreign Legion? Go to Somalia, guys, they might want you!

Answer 7

I just bought a gun, and I'm crazy as a loon!

Answer 8

The USA is already a broken gun control system

First of all, why the f would you let the Federal Gov't involved in the court system? WHY? It is clearly unconstitutional. It's a state matter. Why do they not let the state deal with their own matters? Why do you think they're finally letting all drug offenders go from the federal prisons? It's just stupid. Why would drugs be a federal case? It all should be relative towards a state case....



By the way stricter gun controls isn't the way to go. No matter what people will get their hands on guns, and stricter control will cause more violence. The gun controls in NJ are probably one of the worst gun laws in the world, and yet we have twice the violence as almost any state. Isn't that interesting when most of it are related to guns?



We have a broken down system that disqualifies people for not being able to carry a gun because they were diagnosed with ADHD as a 8 year old, and they're now 29, and doctors have said they're not dealing with it anymore, and they still get disqualified.

Answer 9

He stabbed his three roommates.



If he didn't have access to guns, he was still able to commit mass murder. No system is ever going to be perfect. We just have to do a bit better than this.

Answer 10

I don't believe in gun control. I believe in the 2nd amendment. What you call broken, I call it "thats life". There will always be nuts and loons in society, and government is not the answer. Just accept the fact that life is not perfect, and disasters will happen occasionally. Don't freak out every time a nut with a gun goes on a killing spree. In comparison with the number of people mangled in horrible car crashes, the number is really quite small.

Answer 11

It would be nice if we could have those, but we can't really trust the government with them, gun control groups will just use it as a back door registry for an eventual confiscation attempt.