Perspective on Guns and Mental Illness

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Perspective on Guns and Mental Illness

By Marcia Purse,

About.com Guide

Updated February 16, 2009

In the wake of the tragedy at Virginia Tech University in April 2007, when student Seung-Hui Cho went on a shooting rampage that left more than 50 people dead or injured, the issue of firearms and mental illness has taken center stage. Our poll on guns and severe mental illness showed most people who voted felt that some stricter form of gun control is needed in the United States, but these were divided over how the issue should be addressed. Of course, some people are always going to go to extremes and/or slant their opinions to fit their personal agendas.

Sharon, a member of our bipolar disorder community, saw Wayne LaPierre, president of the National Rifle Association, on the CBS Morning Show, talking about a bill that passed the House on June 13, 2007. This bill requires (and provides funding for) states to send information on criminals and those judged to be mentally ill to the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System. Apparently this measure would have prevented Cho from purchasing the guns he used in the Virginia Tech shooting.

Sharon sent us an email, writing, "In the course of the LaPierre interview, he kept stressing that even the NRA doesn't want everybody to have guns, especially not people who are mentally defective. He said something to the effect that anyone with any history of mental illness or suicide ideation should not have access to firearms. No word on if that was a plan to block access permanently or just while the person's mental status is in question.....


More at:

http://bipolar.about.com/od/stigma/a/070616_lapierre.htm