Gun control has long been a tenet of the Democratic party platform, but recent defeats – like the failure of President Barack Obama’s proposed legislation following the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. – have made candidates reluctant to bring up the subject, political scientist and author of “The Politics of Gun Control” Robert Spitzer told NPR last month.
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Harvard Injury Control Research Center presented analysis which says “people in states with many guns have elevated rates of homicide, particularly firearm homicide”.
“Every state should make sure this information is being reported in the background system”, he said. We need to make sure that background system is working.
When Houser tried to buy his gun on February 26, 2014, the system only briefly delayed his purchase, according to a federal official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation. At the end of his shooting spree, Houser turned the gun on himself. For instance, a report shows that the judge on Houser’s case could do nothing beyond recommend he undergo a mental health evaluation if necessary, despite family members’ warnings about his bipolar disorder and imminent danger to others.
“Obviously somebody with this kind of history should have never been able to buy a gun”, Jindal said, noting that Louisiana laws would have prevented Houser from legally buying a gun.
“We need to enforce the laws that are on the book”, Perry said, citing the Second Amendment.
The problem is that the systems in place don’t work and they never will.
“Nobody should have a gun who has a criminal background, was involved in domestic abuse situations”.
“Factors like drug use, stress levels, and mental illness are much less significant than might be assumed”, concluded Florida. Extensive background checks might, on the surface, seem like a good idea but they can actually adversely affect citizens trying to protect themselves. Jindal said Houser would have been turned away in Louisiana.
These topics certainly merit attention, but it’s also very sad tragedies like this don’t inspire any substantive changes in terms of gun laws. Such a database of information on gun owners would inevitably be abused for all manner of purposes. The waters rose quickly and forced the entire population of 13,000 to flee from their homes.
Houser racked up plenty of complaints, but no evidence has surfaced of any criminal conviction that would have kept him from passing the background check required for many gun purchases.
In 11 states, there are no laws that require or permit record reporting, according to an Everytown for Gun Safety report from May 2014.
Governor Bobby Jindal weighs in saying whoever is diagnosed with a mental illness should not have the right to bear arms.
To most people’s minds, this was a person who probably should not have had access to a weapon.
“These are sick people”, he explained.
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The Louisiana rampage illustrates two risky denominators – guns and mental illness – that are common to too numerous high-profile mass killings that have increasingly plagued the United States.
