One of the worst cases of failed reporting of mental health checks was the Virginia Tech Massacre, in April 2007, where a Virginia Tech student named Seung-Hui Cho shot and killed 32 people and injured 17 others, then killed himself on the college campus in Blacksburg, Virginia (“Mental Health Reporting”). Cho bought a gun despite going through two background checks through licensed gun dealers and having a mental health history in the records that should have prevented him from receiving a gun. Although Virginia had some mental health check laws at the time, certain cases were masked from background checks. But, this is not the only instance, in fact, there have been 102 mass shootings in 2017 alone, from January 1st-April 18 (“Mission.”). Though guns cannot be entirely to blame, there have been‒ and continue to be‒many shootings and suicides caused by guns; by putting weapons in the wrong hands, we are endangering lives. Barring the ownership of guns for potentially dangerous individuals with mental illness is not something new; the Omnibus Crime Control, Safe Street Act and the Gun Control Act (all set into place in 1968) are all laws meant to stop the purchase of a gun by licensed dealers and keep weapons out of the wrong hands. In 1998, the computerized National Instant Criminal Background Check System made communication between dealers and mental health professionals more accurate and fast. The qualification to being banned from purchasing a gun after hearing from a licensed authority that the individuals are either a danger to themselves and others, or do not have the mental capability to think rightfully for themselves. This system has been effective, the dangerously mentally ill and other criminals can go to a gun show or get a gun on the Internet without having to go through the background check because many states failed to provide the records that would be put through the system. Recently, mass shootings have reached an all-time high and continue to be a big problem, which has caused the government to take a step back and look at the laws in place.
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A little less than a year after the Virginia Tech shooting President George W. Bush signed the NICS Improvement Amendments Act, made laws more strict for states to report mental health records to federal databases for weapon purchase. An example of the positives of background checks Virginia's change in law, “During the first three years after Virginia began submitting certain mental health information to NICS, Virginia’s disqualifying mental health records resulted in 438 denials of firearm purchases” (“Mental Health Reporting”). That is 438 possible scenarios where a mentally ill individual could have opened fire on themselves, a child, a teacher, a family member, a friend, or other students. Though it is true that only 3-5% of violent acts are done by those with mental illness, suicide is the tenth leading cause of death in the United States (Appelbaum 652). The CDC reports that there were 42,773 suicides in total, 21,334 of them being from a gun, 11,407 from suffocation, and 6,808 from poisoning. Additionally, suicide accounted for 61% of gun-injury deaths in the United States in 2010 (Swanson E1). The availability of a gun in the household can increase the possibility of committing suicide drastically because it is known to be the most efficient and fast method. As mental illness already being …show more content…
Many of those who want to commit suicide or kill other people, do not want other people to stop them from completing the act, so telling a trained professional might be rare. There can be subliminal messages and cues that may predict, but the symptoms of being a gun owner, being angry, paranoid, are common and don’t directly correlate to wanting to commit violent acts (Metzl 243). In the article, “The Case Against Gun Control” by Dave Kopel there is an explanation of why gun control should not be more strict:
Gun control is based on the faulty notion that ordinary American citizens are too clumsy and ill-tempered to be trusted with weapons. Only through the blatant abrogation of explicit constitutional rights is gun control even possible. It must be enforced with such violations or individual rights as intrusive search and seizure. It most severely victimizes those who most need weapons for self-defense, such as blacks and
A little less than a year after the Virginia Tech shooting President George W. Bush signed the NICS Improvement Amendments Act, made laws more strict for states to report mental health records to federal databases for weapon purchase. An example of the positives of background checks Virginia's change in law, “During the first three years after Virginia began submitting certain mental health information to NICS, Virginia’s disqualifying mental health records resulted in 438 denials of firearm purchases” (“Mental Health Reporting”). That is 438 possible scenarios where a mentally ill individual could have opened fire on themselves, a child, a teacher, a family member, a friend, or other students. Though it is true that only 3-5% of violent acts are done by those with mental illness, suicide is the tenth leading cause of death in the United States (Appelbaum 652). The CDC reports that there were 42,773 suicides in total, 21,334 of them being from a gun, 11,407 from suffocation, and 6,808 from poisoning. Additionally, suicide accounted for 61% of gun-injury deaths in the United States in 2010 (Swanson E1). The availability of a gun in the household can increase the possibility of committing suicide drastically because it is known to be the most efficient and fast method. As mental illness already being …show more content…
Many of those who want to commit suicide or kill other people, do not want other people to stop them from completing the act, so telling a trained professional might be rare. There can be subliminal messages and cues that may predict, but the symptoms of being a gun owner, being angry, paranoid, are common and don’t directly correlate to wanting to commit violent acts (Metzl 243). In the article, “The Case Against Gun Control” by Dave Kopel there is an explanation of why gun control should not be more strict:
Gun control is based on the faulty notion that ordinary American citizens are too clumsy and ill-tempered to be trusted with weapons. Only through the blatant abrogation of explicit constitutional rights is gun control even possible. It must be enforced with such violations or individual rights as intrusive search and seizure. It most severely victimizes those who most need weapons for self-defense, such as blacks and