APA President Renée Binder, M.D., isn’t an expert on the storage of guns in the home or the risk of children getting access to guns, but she is an expert on mental illness. From Psychiatric News Alert (The Voice of the American Psychiatric Association and the Psychiatric Community):
To those who want to connect gun violence with mental illness, Binder emphasized that people with mental illness are far more likely to be victims of violence and that the majority of individuals with mental illness will never be violent toward others; the risk of self-harm is far greater. “Stronger indicators of risk include a history of violent behavior, domestic violence, and drug or alcohol abuse” she noted. “We urge states to develop new procedures for the temporary removal of access to guns during periods of elevated risk.” . . .
IOWs, they’re prescribing registration and licensing programs in order to have complete control over the exercise of a right.
Whatever has been so far assumed, understood or studied seems too far from the factual reasons for the increasing gun violence.
The system appears too permissive, there is a thrill and hype identified in the news related to gun violence.
There are certainly better means of curtailing the trend for gun violence. The question yet not cleared answered is ” How committed are Americans to stop gun violence. It appears similar to playing virtual video games; and when one chooses to have more excitement, shoots randomly and gets glorified. Glorification at any cost seems to be a powerful instinct of American psyche. This need to change; starting right from the top. Start life imprisonment or capital punishment for those who issue the license with loose background checks. Mandatory psychiatric evaluation for every applicant for gun license and charge monthly license fee hefty enough to discourage the instinctual buying of guns. Shame on the nation that lets more massacred inland than outside; need to change.
Yes , these can only be implemented by an ethical people – unlikely ever in the US soil.