Selling guns to the mentally ill (CBS News Video)This is what the gun store owner had to say about the mentally ill gun buyer to whom he sold a Glock pistol used to murder 32 Virginia Tech students:
“My understanding is he was not nervous at all in purchasing the gun. He had knowledge of the gun—just a typical sale, nothing out of the ordinary,” [gun store owner] Markell said. “If we see a resident alien with a credit card, that’s a good indication that they are good upstanding member. It’s not someone you’d expected to go on a shooting spree.”
You wouldn’t expect him to go on a shooting spree unless you knew he was also mentally ill. They had to do a criminal background check. But of course no check on mental health history, which would’ve turned up a stay in a mental hospital and a doctor’s affirmation that he was mentally ill. But you see the NRA is in favor of selling weapons to the mentally ill. They won’t state their position that way. But that’s what it boils down to. If you don’t want such restrictions in place then you’re in favor of arming the mentally ill.
And in case anyone out there harbors any lingering affection for the Straight Talk Express, get a load of this:
Republican presidential candidate John McCain declared Wednesday he believes in “no gun control,” making the strongest affirmation of support for gun rights in the GOP field since the Virginia Tech massacre.
The Arizona senator said in Summerville, S.C., that the country needs better ways to identify dangerous people like the gunman who killed 32 people and himself in the Blacksburg, Va., rampage. But he opposed weakening gun rights and, when asked whether ammunition clips sold to the public should be limited in size, said, “I don’t think that’s necessary at all.”
Unfortunately, this kid would have been able to get the guns even if the govt totally ignored the Second Amendment. It’s become cliche to snicker at the “When guns are outlawed…” aphorism, but it’s no less true.
Also, as a psychologist, I shudder to think that someone seeking help for any kind of psychological distress (clinical depression, anxiety, marital discord, test anxiety, etc) would be entered into some creepy govt database.
The unfortunate fact is that we can look back with 20/20 hindsight and say this guy was mental so someone somewhere should have stopped him from purchasing guns but that honestly doesn’t mean that anyone who saw him as a mental health professional could have predicted that he was homicidal. Nor that anyone who has been under the care of the mental health field should be denied Constitutional rights a priori.
The NY Times reports today that the sale of the gun to the killer was not permitted under federal law because anyone who’s been involuntarily commited to a mental hospital is not allowed to purchase a gun. The State of Virginia failed to inform the feds about his commital & thus his name didn’t come up when the gun seller did a check. If Virginia authorities had done their job properly this prob wouldn’t have happened.