Originally Posted by
Dan Druff
Also ignored is the fact that, aside from complete gun control, tougher background checks would not have prevented most of these crimes.
Many spree killers don't have a felonious criminal history, nor a background of being institutionalized.
And if you prevent people from purchasing guns for simply seeing a shrink, then you're going to be disqualifying a large segment of the country. Furthermore, this will seriously discourage many people from seeking professional help for their psychological issues, which will backfire and cause more problems.
After things like this, you can delve into the background of the shooter and say, "Yeah, this guy shouldn't have had guns." But how do you legislate it? Pass laws that people can't purchase guns if they "seem weird"? Pass laws that people can't purchase guns if they have visited shrinks before? Pass laws that people can't purchase guns if they have weird or unbalanced kids? These are things you can't legislate even if you try.