Shooting in Aurora, CO.

[henglaar]

And another crazed gunman stalks through a crowd, shooting as many people as he can. Incredibly, he managed to escape the movie theatre after his rampage, although fortunately, police were on the scene by then and captured him

Comments

[henglaar]

The article doesn't say one word about gun violence by people seeking treatment vs. people who do not seek treatment but are later judged to be mentally ill. It only comments that there are laws against certain specific types of the mentally ill owning guns---and that those laws are poorly enforced and administrated.

And here's a quote from your own article: '"To single out mental illness, and single out all people with mental illness, it's a slippery slope," Mr. Honberg said, noting that the overwhelming majority of people with mental illness are not violent.' If that statement is accurate, than even a total ban on everyone currently undergoing treatment would would only make a small change. It also would not protect us from the people who are mentally ill but refuse to risk being diagnosed as mentally ill.

There's also the fact that tighter gun control laws will not stop a person, sane or otherwise, who is firmly dedicated to violence. There are so many other types of weapons out there, and so many household items that can be used as weapons that mass murderers will scarcely even be slowed down as they simply change tactics. It is clear that the Aurora murderer was well-acquainted with explosives, for example. A few years ago, many people were murdered in a nightclub fire where the murder weapon was a can full of gasoline.

I do not advocate that people with mental illness have the same free access to guns as people who are unimpaired, but I believe that you will find that the majority of mass murderers were never even diagnosed before their acts.