Gun control isn’t just a matter of mental illness

How could a young man whose lawyers say has been “experiencing and enduring mental illness his entire life” purchase a semiautomatic rifle? The answer seems to be, legally.
Gun control laws have been one of the hottest debates in American in the past few years. Shootings in general, not just at schools, are happening every day (20 have threatened school shootings since the Florida shooting on Valentine’s Day, according to CNN), and there’s no one perfect solution to prevent it all. For example, making guns illegal will just cause criminals to get ahold of them and law-abiding citizens to not have them in defense of the criminal shooter.
There has been enough talk about solutions to gun violence; it’s time to take some action.
The problem doesn’t lie simply within a mental health spectrum; however, people change over time. Therefore, why shouldn’t owners of firearms have to undergo regular and routine mental health examinations and screenings?
If, by chance Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz was more mentally stable at the purchase of his AR-15 that resulted in the lives of 17 people, what happened over the span of a year that changed that? Could this whole thing have been prevented if he had undergone a routine mental health evaluation a month or two prior? If our drivers licenses have to be renewed regularly, why shouldn’t gun owners have to renew their license?
According to CNN, Paul Ryan stated at the news conference Thursday reacting to the shooting, “As you know, mental health is often a big problem underlying these tragedies. We have a system to prevent people who aren’t supposed to get guns from getting guns, and if there are gaps there then we need to look at these gaps.”
Perhaps gaps can be found where, though licensed gun dealers are required under federal law to run all potential firearm buyers through a criminal background check system, the federal law doesn’t require states to make mental health records part of the background check system.
At what age can someone, and frankly should someone, purchase a gun? In Florida, the age of 18 is when someone can legally purchase a long gun. If the argument behind the legal drinking age being 21 is the maturity and development of the brain, why isn’t that something of consideration when purchasing a deadly weapon? And as a matter of fact, in other states such as Minnesota and Massachusetts, long guns may be purchased at as young as 15 or 16 years old.
But what can we do here at Chadron State? We can all be there for one another and have each other’s backs. When watching interviews of a lot of the students at Majory Stoneman Douglas High School, a lot of them weren’t surprised with the occurrence, and that’s heartbreaking. It’s important to speak up when someone is making you suspicious. The shooters social media presence had been disturbing in the recent months.
If there’s ever a cause for worry, don’t be afraid to speak up. The potential to hurt someone’s feelings in the long run is worth the potential saving of lives, in this case, 17 lives. Watching the interview with one of the shooters good friends, he stated that he felt he could have prevented the shooting. No one should have to live with that feeling for the rest of their lives. This proves that you should never be afraid to speak up and voice your concern.