Gun Safety Essay: Guns And Mental Health

Guns and Mental Health The mentally ill teenager sits in his room for hours in a row while thoughts saturate his mind like a tidal wave beating at the shore of a deserted island. He has no medicine, but he reaches for the gun his dad gave him for his seventeenth birthday. He hides the gun in his backpack and goes to school. The only recognition he receives is in tomorrow 's newspaper as a "cold-blooded killer." In light of recent school shootings executed by mentally ill people, gun control should be stronger to prevent lethal weapons from falling in the hands of individuals who are unable to use them properly. The need for stricter gun control is necessary because mental illnesses are often either undiagnosed or untreated, and school shootings …show more content…
The amendment states that the people have a "right to bear arms," and that right must not be infringed upon. On the contrary, a routine mental health assessment would still allow the mentally sound citizens to obtain guns, and it would also protect them and their children from people who are not mentally fit to handle a firearm safely and responsibly. Some may still argue that the mentally ill also are entitled to the rights stated in the second amendment, but after the shootings that have occurred, individuals that cannot handle a gun responsibly must not have access to one. Certainly, a psychological evaluation to establish a person 's ability to purchase a gun must follow reasonable parameters. Professional psychologists should examine applicants individually, and assess the extent of the mental illness. Illnesses such as schizophrenia which affects the occipital lobe, the temporal lobe, and the frontal lobe, which causes people to confuse reality with hallucinations would be a typical example of an ailment that should prevent a person from buying a gun. Stricter gun control with mental health screenings would not allow the mentally ill to possess guns, and it would prevent them from committing gun violence. However, anyone unaffected by mental illness would be allowed to purchase a fire