[ADPi95]

After working many years in law enforcement and teaching criminal justice/forensic psychology, my take on it is that it's not so much mental health (i.e. individuals that suffer from mental illness) as it is mental health LAWS.

Take AOII Angel's example saying that unless a person says "I'm going to hurt myself or others...it's a crapshoot". Believe it or not, that doesn't necessarily mean that the system can do anything about it. I have worked so many cases where these individuals DO say things like that and the legal systems hands are tied for one reason or another and cannot make an arrest/prosecute and a crime still occurs. The FBI has come out to say that the majority of mass shooters will tell someone their intentions, nothing is done about it, and thus, the events occur anyway.

The media and proponents of either side of the gun debate tend to muddle the message. It's not that having a mental health issue is a risk factor for violence or that guns in the hands of citizens are a red flag. The focus should be on the laws that protect us should there be a threat of violence in either respect. Even if it is a sane individual that makes a threat.

I am a strong advocate for changing mental health reporting laws, not because all those that suffer from mental illness are an immediate threat, but for the reasons that we need to respond to threats made by those individuals without having to be blocked by laws that protect them versus the overall safety of others.