Police shootings, mass shootings, terrorism, and humanity's descent into madness

[MavzMan]

Originally Posted by Underdog

I see the "mental illness" thing touted often when these killing sprees occur, so I guess we can be thankful that Trump reversed Obama's ban on selling guns to mentally ill people... Wait, what??

You are obviously much more in tune with everything political than I am and rather than make it seem like I'm trying to pick a fight, which I honestly am not, will you read these and let me know your thoughts for/against? From my quick scanning, it looks like the repeal was against the Social Security Administration deeming someone mentally ill based on the sole fact they were in financial distress.

gop-did-not-just-repeal-background-check-system-or-give-guns-mentally-ill

This is the ACLU letter referenced in the article actually asking for the repeal:

https://waysandmeans.house.gov/wp-co...17/01/ACLU.pdf

So my brother is on disability and struggles financially, should he be declared "mentally ill" by the SSA and prevented from buying a gun? Actually, he is an OKC Thunder fan so there is that also.

[Underdog]

Originally Posted by MavzMan

You are obviously much more in tune with everything political than I am and rather than make it seem like I'm trying to pick a fight, which I honestly am not, will you read these and let me know your thoughts for/against? From my quick scanning, it looks like the repeal was against the Social Security Administration deeming someone mentally ill based on the sole fact they were in financial distress.

gop-did-not-just-repeal-background-check-system-or-give-guns-mentally-ill

This is the ACLU letter referenced in the article actually asking for the repeal:

https://waysandmeans.house.gov/wp-co...17/01/ACLU.pdf

So my brother is on disability and struggles financially, should he be declared "mentally ill" by the SSA and prevented from buying a gun? Actually, he is an OKC Thunder fan so there is that also.

That article makes assumptions of the type of people who COULD be on that watch list rather than the type of people who were actually on it... I absolutely agree that barring someone from owning a handgun because they can't manage their money is unconstitutional, but none of the 75,000 people on that list fell under that designation. True, the Social Security Administration can (and does) deem people mentally ill because they can't manage their finances (which I also don't agree with), and that DOES open up the door for abuse of the rule down the line, but the only people who were on that watch list were so mentally disabled that they required a trustee for personal management. In other words, the people banned from buying a gun under that law were schizophrenic, autistic, had severe brain damage from drug abuse or injuries, etc.

So instead of repealing the law, Trump should have amended what the SSA can deem as "legally unfit" and closed the door on possible future abuse of ticky-tacky mental illness designations... But instead, he falaciated the gun industry and tossed the whole thing out because they contributed $30,000,000 to his campaign... So now people with severe mental illness can buy guns AND the SSA can still call poor people mentally unfit -- it's lose-lose for everybody except the gun manufacturers.

The GOP is also currently trying to legalize silencers so the gun industry can find yet another way to make a buck... Which is insane when you consider how many more people would have been killed last night if they couldn't hear the gun shots. The only people who need silencers are mafia hitmen, yet the GOP is trying to make them available to everyone so they can line the pockets of their political donors.


EDIT: sorry to hear about your brother... I don't want to say there's no hope for him, but Westbrook/George/Melo is going to make it impossible for him to recover. It's sad, but true. Sometimes you just have to accept that you can't save the ones you love.