April 25, 2014 by David K. Sutton
When Your Mind Is On The Fritz, Who Controls The Guns?
This isn’t about denying people their agency. Yes, there’s a Second Amendment. Yes, you are legally entitled to own a gun. But what happens when your mind is on the fritz? If you are not thinking clearly, should someone be allowed to take away your guns?
This is where gun rights advocates love to deflect. They love to talk about mental health, because it deflects your attention away from the 800 pound gorilla in the room. Gun rights advocates say guns aren’t the problem, people are. But the real problem is that it’s just so damn easy to commit heinous acts with a gun, and because of that, gun rights advocates need to deflect your attention away from the obvious. See, according to gun rights advocates, mental health is the problem here, not the tool. Okay, so I think most will agree that people with mental health issues probably shouldn’t own a gun. I’m gonna go out on a limb and suggest most card-carrying NRA members will even agree with this. But what exactly do they propose we do about it? Who’s taking away the guns?
This is a story that hits close to home for me. Human beings are of sound mind until one day they are not. This is the inconvenient truth that nobody wants to acknowledge. Even left-wing media rarely talks about it in this context. It just so happens in my own family there is an issue with people of advanced age who are not the people they used to be, and yes, there are guns in the house. And because this elderly couple in their 80s have guns stashed around the house, people are scared to visit them. It’s a vicious feedback loop, that continues to see the decline of their mental health coupled with the helplessness felt by everyone involved. This is a sad situation indeed.
So what exactly do gun rights advocates and NRA members propose we do in this situation? And don’t pretend to think this is an uncommon problem. And you might want to think long and hard before you answer, because this situation could visit EVERY single gun owner at some point in their lives. Nobody wants to admit that the mental state of a human being is not in stasis, and this denial is particularly true when guns are involved. Human beings experience highs and lows, and some experience much worse fates. And when guns are part of the equation, it adds a whole other level of anxiety and concern, and nobody, and I mean nobody, wants to talk about this. See, for gun rights advocates to even admit this very simple fact of the human condition, it would require that they also admit their own fragility, and their own potential fate. And that simply doesn’t comport with the tough rugged gun-owning American persona. Gotta keep up appearances after all.
