It is multi faceted. Those suffering mental illness DEFINITELY need help. And the manufacture and sale of guns DEFINITELY needs safer guidelines and laws, which need to then be enforced.
I possess a carry permit from the state of Indiana. Most state laws are similar to each other. Before applying I did a study of state laws regarding hand guns. Federal laws are plenty in abundance. The problem is enforcement is not properly being acted on. If laws that now exist arn't being acted on what will new laws do? In Indiana this individual could never have legally purchased a weapon. He would have had to obtain one illegally.
But then the question of the prison job he had comes up. This is an example of laws and background checks that are on the books now that are not being enforced. Until existing laws are rigorously applied we are wasting our time generating more that, in the end, will only limit legal citizens.
I've argued for decades that we need to earnestly enforce the laws we have. Until this happens I'll never agree to writing more. New laws always seem to work in the favor of the criminal.
After I went through the process of applying the local, state and federal governments took three months to complete there background checks on me. The average citizen has to be squeaky clean. How do these people with mental issues get by? This is an issue that the national news media side steps. They side stepped it big time in Parkland Fl. Fellow high school students who told the news reporters about him hearing voices were told theydidn't need their story. As I've stated for more than a year, the majority of these killers have a psychiatric history. How are they legally purchasing weapons?
In Indiana a person with psychiatric history can't even by a BB gun.
Who's to say that tomorrow you might not suffer a traumatic experience that makes you unfit to own weapons. Will you voluntarily hand them in?
If tomorrow YOU have a "traumatic experience" that someone thinks "makes YOU unfit to own weapons" will YOU voluntarily turn in your knives or anything else that can be used as a weapon? WHO is that determines when a "traumatic experience" warrants such actions??? I caught my ex-wife cheating on me, it was a "traumatic experience" and I own guns.....should I have surrendered my guns? Should she have been able to report that I had a "traumatic experience" so my guns could be seized? My guns were NO MORE a danger to her after the "traumatic experience" than they were before.