It’s a tool. It can be used for good purposes or evil ones. I drive a fuel truck. That fuel keeps society running, helps farmers put food on your table. That same truck driven into a skyscraper full of people can bring it down. 17K litres of gasoline is a lot of boom. Should I be prohibited from driving a fuel truck because of what can be done with it? Should I be prohibited from working in a kitchen with knives, which can be used to stab people?
Where do you want to draw the line?
Pixel.
a gun is not the same as a truck or a knife in my opinion, sorry
Misuse of a gun:
Misuse of a truck full of fuel and fertilizer:
Misuse of a knife:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/oct/17/videos-teach-palestinians-how-to-stab-a-jew/
Maybe we need to deal with the problem – evil people – and worry less about the tools they use. Some ‘people’ (and I use that word lightly) have no business being allowed outside of a cage.
Pixel.
I’m curious, does your employer know you have a “mental disorder?” Personally, I have no problem with it, because I think most people have some mental problems, but I have always feared the stigma of SZ. I’m curious if you have had to deal with that at work.
Every single employer I’ve had since being DXed has been disclosed to. It’s never been a problem. Not even for the school division I’m a spare bus driver for. Most employers are more enlightened than they are given credit for and my work experience speaks for itself. Also, my doctor who signed off on my professional driver’s license physical is aware of all of my health issues.
Pixel.
That’s great! I guess it’s just my paranoia working overtime, but I’m always terrified of someone finding out my secret and thinking that I am “crazy” or “dangerous.”
It might just be because Canadians are more reasonable than us Americans. Well, except when you guys watch hockey! LOL! I’m kidding!
I don’t and have never watched hockey, thankfully. So I’m not as mentally ill as I could be.
Pixel.
Yet guns, tools as they may be, do not keep a society running. The difference in numbers of mass shootings between countries with strict and not-so-strict gun regulations is obvious. Also, I wouldn’t be surprised if the huge differences in number of incidents of policemen killing suspects between such countries can be accounted for by this. That some might need one for special purposes does not imply everyone should be allowed to carry one. Where I live, in general guns are not allowed, but licences are issued to hunters. We don’t witniss mass shootings on a daily basis. Our cops rarely kill anyone. And guess what, the society is running pretty well. Oh and we have farmers too.
Personally, I think I probably shouldn’t own a gun. Most of the time I am cogent enough to handle owning one, but I don’t know if I got put on some kind of new drug like an anti-depressant and it made me psychotic what I might do with a gun. I don’t think I am stable enough to own a gun. For personal protection I will rely on pepper spray. I once saw this bumper sticker that said, “I’ll give up my gun when they pry my paranoid, physically abusive fingers off the barrel.” I also saw another one that said, “I didn’t go to work today because the voices told me to stay home and clean my guns.”
I am considered high risk for breaks downs, but low risk for suicidal or homicidal tendencies, basically I might scream about wanting to kill someone or myself, but would never actually do it. I have harmed someone ONCE while in a rage, and that was when I was 14 a full 8 years before my SZ was triggered. I am not ashamed to say I hit a man over the head with a shovel when I witnessed him kick a dog into oncoming traffic. The dog survived, so did the guy I hit, though both required medical care, the man ended up with a bunch of staples in his scalp, the dog had two broken legs and a broken jaw. I spent a week in juvie for assault but all charges were dropped as part of a plea deal for me to see a licensed psychologist for a year. They never diagnosed me with anything…It was written off as ‘kid’ who saw something that made him overreact.
Back on topic though, I believe it should be determined by the mental health professional who treats the individual. I own several guns, have been tempted to use them, but never actually done so. (I live in small town, but there are a number of shady people who deal drugs and I have had my home broken into six times. usually the dogs scare them off before they get too far into the house.)
Nobody should be allowed to have a gun. Only police
Sure they do. Examine crime rates in areas with high legal gun ownership vs. areas where they have low gun ownership. Gun free zones are invariably more dangerous.
Do an ethnic breakdown. The difference in gun violence between the U.S. and Canada has nothing to do with our gun laws. We have the same amounts of gun violence per ethic group as the U.S. does. The U.S. just has much more of certain ethnic groups than we do. It would be interesting if we were ever allowed to have a conversation about why this is. (Further proof that statistics are racist, btw.)
Pixel.
Yes that’s the difference from knifes and trucks
In Switzerland everyone is encouraged to keep a gun. It’s not a problem.
Pixel.
Still waiting for the question to be answered: What other dangerous things are we banning schizophrenics from? Now that we’ve established that we’re second class citizens, what else are we to be denied? Should we be voting, for example? Can we be trusted to cast an informed ballot?
Pixel.
It’s funny that you are all arguing over something that has already happened. You cannot purchase a gun in the US if you’ve been committed to a psychiatric ward. Nothing to argue about, we’ve already lost that right.
Really? When did this happen? I was never aware but I’ve never tried to buy a gun before.
About 10 years now at least. I failed a background check about 8 1/2 years ago because of being committed.
Federal law establishes the baseline regarding the types of persons who are ineligible to purchase firearms. The federal Gun Control Act of 1968, codified at 18 U.S.C. § 922, prohibits the sale of firearms to any person who:
Has been “adjudicated as a mental defective” (defined by Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (“ATF”) regulations to include persons who have been determined to be a danger to themselves or to others, or who lack the mental capacity to contract or manage their own affairs, including persons found insane by a court in a criminal case, persons found incompetent to stand trial, and persons found not guilty by reason of lack of mental responsibility pursuant to articles 50a and 72b of the Uniform Code of Military Justice1);2
Has been “committed to a mental institution” (defined by ATF regulations to mean involuntary commitment);3
I live in UK we cant own firearms that easy, but my answer now is yes.