GOP Goes Mental Over This Provision on Firearm Background Checks


Susanne.Posel-Headline.News.Official- obama.mental.illness.gun.control.fbi.gop.republicans.conspiracy.theorists_occupycorporatismSusanne Posel ,Chief Editor Occupy Corporatism | Co-Founder, Legacy Bio-Naturals

 

As part of the executive orders signed by President Obama, there is a provision that allows healthcare providers to report mentally ill patients to the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) under a background check systems for firearms.

According to the new rule: “The disclosure is restricted to limited demographic and certain other information needed for NICS purposes.”

President Obama said about this provision: “We must continue to remove the stigma around mental illness and its treatment and make sure that these individuals and their families know they are not alone. While individuals with mental illness are more likely to be victims of violence than perpetrators, incidents of violence continue to highlight a crisis in America’s mental health system. In addition to helping people get the treatment they need, we must make sure we keep guns out of the hands of those who are prohibited by law from having them.”

While Mental Health America, an advocacy group for the rights of the mentally ill, stands with the president; saying that this provision “strikes the right balance between the need to have this information shared with the FBI’s background check system and protecting individuals’ privacy” others are skeptical.

Ron Honberg, director of policy and legal affairs for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), is concerned that because many states across the country have “cut mental health funding” there will not be enough to finance these changes.

In addition, NAMI claims that because “50% of adults and children with serious mental illness are not in treatment” the president’s provision will not help in reducing gun-violence caused by mental illness.

Honberg is also focused on breaking stigmas on the mentally ill. He said the vast majority of mentally ill persons “pose no enhanced risk for violence” and this should be taken into consideration.

Peggy Drexler, research psychologist and gender scholar, wrote an op-ed piece about the reasons why we fear mental illness and how gun rights activists use this social stigma to their advantage.

Drexler pointed out: “Donald Trump’s recent ‘Meet the Press’ declaration that gun violence is ‘….a mental illness problem…. You have people that are mentally ill and they’re going to come through the cracks and they’re going to do things that people will not even believe are possible’ squarely, irresponsibly, placed nearly all the blame for gun violence on the mentally ill.”

The psychiatrist continued: “This argument is not only flawed — it’s been widely reported that the vast majority of gun violence is, in fact, committed by people who are not mentally ill — but also part of the problem. No wonder people are afraid. What’s more, stigmatizing mental illness in such a way — making it something dangerous, something to fear — will continue to isolate those suffering and prevent them from getting the help they need.”

A large part of the problem is responsibility.

In Texas, a recent law to allow open carry of firearms in public places, includes the allowance of guns into state mental health facilities for visitors. Employees and patients will still be barred from openly carrying.





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