H.R. 2640 Appears to cover all of the
necessary cautions for keeping firearms from individuals with mental diseases,
but we know that it is not effective because people with mental issues are
still getting their hands on weapons and injuring people. I would suggest that NICS is not
capable of tracking all of the people that should not be allowed to have
weapons, but possibly it’s not NICS problem. My question (because I don’t know) is do states use the same
requirements when determining if someone is mentally capable (or incapable) of
owning a firearm? When reading the
summary for HR2640 it appears that NICS leaves states to establish a system for
determining who is disqualified from owning a firearm. It sounds like Federal and State governments
are not communicating, as they should to keep firearms out of the hands of
people with mental issues. Our
determination and diagnosis of mental illness needs to be standardized, for HR2640
to work. We need better mental
health care. We need to remember
that not all of our problems with guns revolve around the mentally ill. Even if the government takes away all
of the weapons that are legally owned, bad people will still have/own guns that
are not legal.
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/110/hr2640#summary/libraryofcongress
