Background checks need to be tightened and include mental health red flags.

It's not just the background checks that are a problem. I believe that all states have a 72 hour hold to wait for the background check, but I've heard on the news that some states leave it up to the owner of the shop to decide to sell it or not if the background check hasn't came back by then.

Background checks at the time of purchase do nothing in most cases. The weapons can be owned by a person for years, or by parents, or otherwise bypass the check.

Mental health is the key here. Mental health after traumatic events like job loss, relationship changes, death of loved ones, or stresses at work/school are often triggers for gun use. The use may be against themselves in the form of suicide, or against others.

It isn't so much mental health at the time of purchase, but at the time of use.

Background checks at the time of purchase do nothing in most cases. The weapons can be owned by a person for years, or by parents, or otherwise bypass the check.

Mental health is the key here. Mental health after traumatic events like job loss, relationship changes, death of loved ones, or stresses at work/school are often triggers for gun use. The use may be against themselves in the form of suicide, or against others.

It isn't so much mental health at the time of purchase, but at the time of use.

The data disagrees with you.

Repeal of Missouri's background check law associated with increase in state's murders

Webster and colleagues found that the spike in murders in Missouri following the PTP law repeal only occurred for murders in Missouri committed with a firearm and was widespread across the state's counties. Following the change in Missouri's gun laws, none of the states bordering Missouri experienced significant increases in murder rates and the U.S. murder rate actually declined by over five percent. The researchers also analyzed annual data from death certificates through 2010 compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and determined that the repeal of Missouri's PTP law was associated with a twenty-five percent increase in firearm homicides rates.

Myth vs. Fact: Violence and Mental Health

People with serious mental illness are 3 to 4 times more likely to be violent than those who aren't. But the vast majority of people with mental illness are not violent and never will be.

Most violence in society is caused by other things.

Even if we had a perfect mental health care system, that is not going to solve our gun violence problem. If we were able to magically cure schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depression, that would be wonderful, but overall violence would go down by only about 4 percent.

Background checks need to be tightened and include mental health red flags.

It's not just the background checks that are a problem. I believe that all states have a 72 hour hold to wait for the background check, but I've heard on the news that some states leave it up to the owner of the shop to decide to sell it or not if the background check hasn't came back by then.

I mentioned that in my post as well. The default needs to be to forbid the sale if the background check fails to come back for any reason.

We also need to remove guns from those who commit domestic violence. It is a very strong indicator for potential homicide. However, without gun registration it is much more difficult to do.

I'm not referring to the mental health of long-term depression or schizophrenia.

Look back at my post. The items I wrote were short term traumatic events.

I know (knew) six people who committed suicide. Three happened soon after a job loss. One had a death in his family, driving him over the edge. One had been in a divorce. The last was a teen facing relationship troubles.

Whenever shootings are on the news, there tends to be something in the newscast "had recently lost his job", "was fired earlier that day and returned with weapons", "was in a domestic dispute with his family before killing his wife, children, then himself." The key triggering event is just that, a key event. A short-term trauma. Not always, but frequently.


From the people I knew in real life all were facing serious sudden mental health traumas.

These are the difference between a mental-health style diabetic that will have minor issues for life, versus a mental health broken ribs or pierced lungs that need immediate trauma care but will be quickly recovered. The triggering items seem to be an event, a serious emotional blow. It isn't about if they got the guns legally, but the availability of emergency emotional health care right before the event.

These are the difference between a mental-health style diabetic that will have minor issues for life, versus a mental health broken ribs or pierced lungs that need immediate trauma care but will be quickly recovered. The triggering items seem to be an event, a serious emotional blow. It isn't about if they got the guns legally, but the availability of emergency emotional health care right before the event.

That makes more sense, but what is the solution? Mandatory hugs? Might be worth a try...