How was Aaron Alexis, with psychiatric problems and two shooting incidents, allowed to keep and bear arms?

Current Federal laws that require a background check prior to the purchase of weapons are supposed to look for criminal activity, especially gun-related and violent crimes, as well as psychiatric problems. Yet, every single mass-murdering gunman since 1963 has had known psychiatric problems and was on SSRI drugs. We do not yet know if Alexis was on SSRIs but we do know he had two previous incidents where he illegally discharged a firearm. He was discharged from the Navy for disciplinary problems. He has known psychiatric problems, including "anger management," and PTSD.

It is outrageous that some are already calling for more gun control laws when the laws we have now are not being used. It is more outrageous that adverse psychiatric information is seldom reported by doctors and hospitals.

Finally -- He purchases the weapons, including the AR-15 within the last week.

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perseverer

It is always possible to obtain firearms, no matter how sick or incompetent you are. The thing that I find interesting about Australia, in comparison to the USA is that since the Port arthur Massacre in 1996, there have been no more massacres here. Plenty of shootings, but no more massacres. Whenever I hear of large numbers of victims being shot speedily and accurately in the head, I immediately wonder what the government is up to now.

DeclarableKitten

We live in a country where enough of the population have been engineered to hear "sensible gun control" and yell very loudly at Congress in response, and where enough people with money threaten to withhold it from the members of said institution, that it's become impossible to stop someone in his position from keeping (never mind buying) firearms.

ToddToronto

Why is anyone have the right to bear arms? It's one of the most outdated and ridicules amendment in the USA constitution

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Lickitysplit · 70-79, M

Dear Toronto -- You can do whatever the hell you want up there in Canada. We will never give up or right to keep and bear arms in accordance with the Second Amendment to the US Constitution. I am sorry you are not capable of understanding why the amendment is as relevant today as it was the day it was originally introduced. Furthermore, the criminals in this country always find ways to get guns, even more so in the states and cities with the most restrictive gun laws than anywhere else in the nation. Washington DC has some of the most restrictive gun laws in our entire nation.

Lickitysplit · 70-79, M

Private citizens in the US are not allowed to have "military grade" weapons. The weapons leftists attempt to say are "military grade" or "assault weapons," are guns that have features of appearance that make them APPEAR similar, but they are not capable of either automatic fire or burst fire, the only two characteristics that would make them "military grade."

The problem is that the laws we have to keep guns out of the hands of those who should not have them either are ignored, or subverted. The Health Information Personal Privacy Act know as HIPPA, was passed to protect personal privacy. Current Federal gun laws require persons wishing to purchase a firearm to undergo a background check to determine if the person fails to meet the qualifications -- including things like not being a convicted felon, not being psychiatrically unstable, and so forth. However, the HIPPA act prevents doctors and medical facilities from reporting on an individual's mental illnesses or medications. Two laws that work against one another. Considering every mass murderer since 1963 has had know mental illness and was under treatment for that illness, the majority of those killers were never reported and were therefore able to purchase weapons.

Instead of fixing the real problem, gun control advocates have repeatedly focused on mass murder events as an excuse to restrict "Assault Weapons," to make it harder to law abiding sane citizens to buy guns and ammunition, and so forth instead of fixing the one problem that has been directly relevant to stopping mass murders -- reporting of psychiatric information to the FBI so as to stop mentally ill people from buying or owning guns.

I am not against all regulation of ownership, but I am against regulation that will not fix the problem or stop the violence while abridging my constitutional rights.

DeclarableKitten

Perfectly encapsulating the real issue.

Hikingguy

I sometimes feel our government allows these horrific events to happen in order to further their agenda. But you are right. We need to fix current laws before making new ones.

DeclarableKitten

Is the government organized enough to HAVE a concrete agenda? On current form our President shouldn't be allowed custody of a school bake sale never mind launch codes for the Minuteman-III.

Lickitysplit · 70-79, M

Oh we do not have to worry about him running any bake sales. His wife does not allow the family to eat any carbohydrates.

pizzaboy213

He might of had one hidden or obtained it from a friend and as for the others he got them off the guards he first killed

risenphoenix

He probably had more than what he had used in each incident.

conceptualclarity

Good question.

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