Interesting conversation about guns/mental health with my son's psychiatrist

[Ilsa]

today.
Basically, the drs can't give out private health information to schools, employers, due to hipaa;
A person may not be a danger to others today, but a dr doesn't know how he might feel next week;
If the patient makes a threat, the dr hospitalizes him, not reports him.

My conclusion: The mental health issue is real, but fixing that won't fix the problems with violence from disturbed individuals.

[BigmanPigman]

1. Here is the difference.

There are mentally ill people all over the planet. However, the US has 4.5% of the world population and owns 44% of all guns. That is easy math. The gun problem is multi faceted and needs solutions on many fronts. Generations of Americans have been raised on a gun loving mentality and will never change. Fux Ruse propaganda, etc for over 20 years doesn't help and the greedy GOP sociopaths who take blood money from the NRA are also part of the problem. The 2nd Amend nuts who use it as an excuse to support their extremely weak argument (the Founding Fathers never intended this when they wrote it...militia, foreign enemies, hunting, gun technology is very diff from 250 years ago). This article is long but worth the read. It is about the ingrained personality of the numerous and current rural, white, Christian voters.

[TheSmarterDog]

2. Most people with mental health issues aren't violent

And if they are, the greatest concern is that they may hurt themselves, not others.