Mass shooting in the middle school Vladislav Ribnikar in Belgrade

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

After a fair bit of poking about online, I withdraw my contention that mental illness is a predictor of mass shooting. I wasn’t just wrong, I was really, REALLY wrong. 

I happily concede that mental health researchers at Columbia and Cambridge know more about this than I do/did.

Boru

So, we now agree that taking away guns from people with a diagnozed mental illness is a very misled policy, right? That it is taking guns (a means of self-defence) away from the people who are significantly more likely to be victims of violent crimes, but are not significantly more likely to be violent criminals.

Maybe taking away guns from drug users would save more people than it would kill. Drug users are indeed way more likely to be violent criminals, like they are way more likely to be a victim of a violent crime. Taking away guns from mentally ill people would almost certainly kill more people than it would save.

I think the specific mental illness involved should be a factor in determining in whether to allow an individual to own a gun. As Nudger obliquely pointed out, suicidally depressed people may not make ideal gun owners.

Boru