On Monday, September 16, Americans awoke to discover that another mass killing had occurred. This time the scene of the violence was at the Naval Yard in Washington, DC.
No doubt the gun control lobby will use this latest carnage — clearly caused by a mentally deranged killer — to bolster their never-ending attempt to take weapons out of the hands of law-abiding American citizens. The Firearms Transaction Record, Form 4473, question 11.f. requires that those who have been adjudicated as mentally incompetent or a danger to others must declare such conditions on the form. The key word being “adjudicated” — unless a court of some jurisdiction has adjudged a person as incompetent or a danger to others — the individual completing the form, though he may be nutty as a fruitcake, has every right to respond in the negative and purchase a firearm.
America’s mental health system is in shambles and a national disgrace. Military veterans — even those who may be a danger to themselves or others may have to wait for more than one year to be seen by a Veterans Administration (VA) medical facility. Many of the “homeless” are actually former military members who have mental disorders which remain continuously untreated.
Weapons were introduced to the world by the Chinese in the 13th century. A tube was filled with some type of projectile and then charged with gunpowder, thereby making a crude type of rocket. The first weapons were not made to shoot rabbits or birds — and the logic for today’s weapons has not changed since they were first invented and utilized to kill other human beings.
A rifle is an offensive weapon – a pistol or revolver is a defensive weapon – and a shotgun can be either a defensive or offensive weapon. One of the weapons the shooter at the Naval Yard utilized was a handgun which was taken from a law-enforcement official. Using the convoluted logic of the anti-gun lobby —firearms should not be carried by law-enforcement personnel because in this particular instance, the firearm was used to kill people. Silly! Not really any more silly than presuming that a firearm in my hands will be used to commit a crime or kill other than in self-defense. Any legal weapon, in the hands of a law-abiding individual is a tool of self-defense, and can mean the difference between life and death.
We do not have a Second Amendment gun problem — we have a problem that revolves around the wrong people having access to firearms. The District of Columbia has a litany of laws on the books that make it difficult to obtain some firearms, impossible to obtain others, and a crime to carry any loaded firearm within the city. Anyone carrying a loaded firearm —even though it may be legally registered — is committing a crime in Washington, DC. Yet the Naval Yard killer ignored the law — that’s what lawbreakers always do!
In 1976 the Washington, DC city council voted to institute a gun ban. During the years that the DC handgun ban and trigger lock law was in effect, the Washington, DC murder rate averaged 73% higher than it was at the implantation of the law. During that same period, the average U.S. murder rate actually decreased by 11%. Virtually every city that has stringent gun laws also has high incidents of gun violence. Conclusion — taking guns out of the hands of law-abiding citizens does not deter crime — it merely provides those with illegal guns an unfair and deadly advantage.
America has a knack of throwing money in the wrong direction. The White House was closed to visitors, presumably because of sequestration — thereby denying kids the opportunity to visit a national treasure. But the Obama Administration somehow found $684 million to squander on an advertisement for Obamacare. And many military veterans are required to wait long periods of time waiting for treatment in a VA medical facility — but America was fully prepared to throw a few billion dollars at Syria in the form of bombs and rockets. This type of logic is over the top even for Looney Tunes!
This insanity must stop! Mental health professionals must identify those who pose a threat to themselves or the public. Courts must adjudicate these individuals as a threat to themselves or the public — and when identified, these individual must be confined to mental facilities. Not enough money you say? Then quit peeing money away on less critical agendas! And it would be an excellent idea to staff bureaucratic positions with qualified, experienced individuals, as opposed to a system that rewards partisan supporters and contributors.
The alternative is to continue to rail against legal ownership of firearms and wait for the next nut case to kill a some more innocent victims.
Have a good week. Bill Shuey is a free-lance writer who lives in Murphy, NC. He can be contacted at: washuey@brmemc.net. His columns can be read at:
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Mental Health is the avenue to gun confiscation -- it worked for the Nazis
http://politicaloutcast.com/2013/01/why-mental-illness-is-the-avenue-to-gun-confiscation/
Politicians pushing gun control in a dangerous and dishonest manner
http://fff.org/explore-freedom/article/who-is-mentally-ill/
Which is why it is a mandatory part of questions that doctors are forced to ask under Obamacare.
An easy way to disarm our veterans.
If Bill Shuey the author understood the concept or the fact of false flag operations he could have written a much shorter article. Crazy people don’t have what it takes to do these mass shootings without lots of help.