If there was a referendum to ban AR-15’s, how would you vote?

@RemovedUsername329422 I also support improved access to mental healthcare, but the fact is, separating the homicidal from the anxious, depressed, or ocd is very difficult to do. Should we further stigmatize mental illness by putting sufferers on a list and telling them they're a danger to society?

@RemovedUsername329422 If someone was diagnosed with a mental illness, should that information be entered into a national database?

@SimplyTracie No. Medical illnesses are temporary and doctors are often wrong. Gun violence is something that is not going away, just like stabbings, drunk driving and drug trafficking.

@DallasCowboysFan So I guess the mentally ill will always be allowed to buy guns? Kinda scary huh?

Imagine a mentally unstable person “standing his ground” 😬

@RemovedUsername329422 @SimplyTracie Well, it is hard to diagnose something you can't see. I would be more concerned with a government that insisted I had to prove my mental fitness than someone that legally purchased a gun. It sounds too much like George Orwell's 1984, Soviet Russia or Communist China.

@DallasCowboysFan True. But I think I can safely say that anyone who goes out and does a mass shooting is mentally unstable. Or at a minimum, not in a normal state of mind.

@DallasCowboysFan I agree. And, I've always wondered what the people who push mental health screening think we should do once people are screened. Are they going to suddenly support confiscating the guns of 54 million Americans who are on mood stabilizers? And that's just the one's who have chosen to talk to their doctors about it.

@RemovedUsername329422: First of all, let’s look at what happens with the screenings. Some people may get diagnosed with with depression. Just your “garden variety depression”. Maybe due to the loss of a loved one or divorce or whatever. Would it be a “bad thing” to get these people help? I’d say probably NOT. I’m NOT suggesting that we go out & have psychological screenings & then put people on some “blacklist” for public persecution. But some people just might need a little help. Perhaps it would save some people from committing suicide. Give people avenues to combat addictions, and steer them to self help groups & whatever. I’m NOT suggesting that we mark people with a “Scarlet I” & label as Insane. But the people who need help for WHATEVER can be pointed in the direction of the resources that might do them some good. But, YES, I believe that the majority of the people who are psychologically impaired & “bat shit crazy” can be identified. The ones who pose an IMMINENT danger to society can be identified. And swift & intense treatment can save them from picking up dangerous instruments (whether that be guns or fertilizer & diesel) to go carry out mass killings. It’s not guns that kill people; it’s crazy people who kill people.

@RemovedUsername329422. Sounds far fetched to screen everyone but I understand your point. Someone suggested a better healthcare system so that people who need help can get it. Maybe those who want help cannot afford the care they require.

@SimplyTracie: I understand that it’s far fetched. And I realize that it’s never going to happen. However, in this age of the Affordable Health Care Act, I do believe that the concept has SOME merit. I think that using that frame of reference, nearly everyone has SOME access to health care providers. Perhaps it should be expanded to include some sort of psychological counseling. But my premise remains. It’s not the ARs that are killing people, but the crazy people that WANT to kill people.