Jennie, I disagree with your solution to gun control, i.e., taking them away from “nut cases”.   There are MILLIONS of Americans diagnosed with clinical depression (that’s brain chemistry, not just being in a “bad mood”), who are living quiet, normal lives, on prescribed medications.  To label these people “nut cases” is very degrading and judgmental of millions of people. 

 

What is your definition of a “nut case”???

 

I have suffered from clinical depression all my life.  It is hereditary, I didn’t sign up for it.  I am a responsible adult, a grandmother, and a Spirit-filled, born-again Christian for 35 years.  I have been able to live in the sunlight of mental health instead of a black cloud of despair ever since I started taking anti-depressants 20 years ago.  When I was not diagnosed and not taking prescribed  medications, I was frequently suicidal and a danger to myself.  Now that I am under a doctor’s care and taking prescribed medications, I am able to live a normal, happy life.  Do you say I am a “nut case” and have no right to defend myself? 

 

To say that millions of Americans must be deprived of our Constitutional rights to defend ourselves if a burglar or rapist breaks into our homes because we take certain prescribed medications is ludicrous, discriminatory, insensitive, and ill-informed.  More lives are SAVED because of responsible people owning guns.  Where guns are outlawed, the murder and overall crime rate skyrockets.

 

Forcing psychiatrists and other doctors who prescribe “Heavy Medications” for their patients to “report them to a panel” (composed of what?) is a violation of privacy and a sure way to keep suffering people away from getting the treatment they desperately need, and putting a lot of seriously ill people in danger to themselves and others.

 

Guns don’t kill people; people kill people.  Cars don’t kill people; drunk drivers do.  Far more people are killed by cars than guns.  Banning guns makes as much sense as banning car ownership. 

 

Diane G.