Joseph Ryan

Gun control for the mentally ill

Everyone seems to blame the gun they used, but why does no one ever blame the

shooter? Gun control laws have always been focused on the gun itself, but not the gun

owner. Why is this? The gun owner is the one who’s should be punished, not the gun. This

is why I would propose that we put sanctions on the people who own the guns. And the

first people we should sanction are those in our community who are mentally disabled.

Gun control has been an issue with this country for many years. Many are unsure of

the constitutions meaning of the right to bear arms. But truly, that isn’t the issue. The issue

should be who has the right to bare these arms. People always look at the gun. Is it too fast,

is the clip to big, is the bullet to large. In my opinion, a gun is going to kill you, no matter

what. That’s what it is meant to do, kill. Any illusions of that should be removed. So, we

shouldn’t be fighting about the guns themselves, but the people who own these big bad

guns.

Recently, there was the shooting in Arizona that took the lives of many people.

Included, was nine year old Christina Green, a nine year old who was visiting the state

capital that day, because she decided she wanted to be a lawyer when she grew up. These

dreams where smashed that dreadful day when Jared Loughner walked into the capital, and

unloaded his gun. It took all of 15 seconds to fire into the crowd, and it ended with 19
victims, 6 killed, including little Christina. Loughner, who has been deemed mentally ill,

began his plot to kill in November of 2010. He walked into a gun store, and, without a

permit, he purchased a shot gun. A month later, due to the bulk gun law which allows a

person to buy only one gun a month, he returned to purchase his glock.

How could this have been prevented? With harsher background checks and laws

that prevent the mentally ill to purchase guns. If laws had been in place to make sure the

mentally ill don’t have access to guns, than many incidents like this can be prevented in the

future.

Also, we must take great care to make sure military members suffering from post-

traumatic stress disorder do not have access to these guns. Recently, National guardsmen

Matthew Magdzas, diagnosed with post-traumatic stress, went to his therapy as normal. His

doctor took notes on that day’s session. In those notes, he wrote “not a threat to himself or

others.” Then he went home to his pregnant wife, and year old daughter. He shot and killed

his entire family just last week. He then turned the gun he had on himself. This is another

perfect example of gun control for mentally disabled persons lacking. If a person,

sanctioned by the military to remove all their guns and they can still somehow get one,

something is extremely wrong.

The reports that the army have, say that Matthew had already once threatened

suicide and all his weapons had been removed. Unfortunately, Matthew moved to a new

state and began to purchase another arsenal of guns. Because of a mix up, the military
believed that the gun removal from his previous residence was the same as a military clean

out. Thus, Matthew, with all the guns at his disposal, acted on his mental illness and killed

himself and his young family, including his unborn child.

If legislation was in place and stronger checks of those suspected or known to be

mentally ill, then maybe this tragedy wouldn’t have taken place. We must make it clear to

gun stores and others who supply weapons to people that people with mental illness

shouldn’t be allowed to have these weapons. They impose a serious threat to everyone,

including themselves. Sale must be regulated to those with serious mental disorders.

If we can be successful, imagine what the world could be like. Thousands of suicides

would be prevented, more if checked up on. People with all over the country would benefit

from this. If people are checked, then there is more public awareness. Along with that,

everyone, including the mentally ill become safer.

In a today’s modern world, we can’t prevent the outright sale of weapons to

everyone. It’s just not imaginable. There are too many people who wish to keep their guns,

along with the fact that guns are huge business. But, what we can do is keep them away

from those that would harm themselves or others with it. If we can keep gun sales closely

regulated, then we can start to have a better place in this country. The first step is to limit

the sale of guns to the mentally disabled. If we start there, we can make this world a better

place.