Romney Insists Guns Don't Kill People

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright August 15, 2012
All Rights Reserved.                                         

           Another deranged gunman opened fire near Texas A & M University in College Station, the third massacre in a month of the wacko who opened fire July 28 at the midnight show of “The Dark Night Rises” in Aurora, Colorado.  GOP presidential nominee former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney sounded the Second Amendment horn proclaiming there’s no need for new gun laws.  Speaking in Miami, the 65-year-old presidential hopeful said it’s not about weapons but about the individuals that use them.  Reciting National Rife Association talking points, Romney can’t concede that more must be done to keep guns away from the mentally ill.  Current federal gun laws only require ad Department of Justice checks that doesn’t include whether a mass killer was ever treated for mental illness.  When you examine the recent spate of murders—and those before—the killers are always mentally ill.

            Legal standards of mental illness defining “insanity” differ across courtrooms but what’s constant in the psychological makeup of serial and mass killers.  They all show serious distortions and detachment from reality, living a loner’s life, withdrawn from the real world and playing twisted mind games until they lash out.  If the mentally ill can access guns as easily as anyone else, then there’s something seriously wrong with today’s gun laws.  Whether or not checking for mental illness prevents future violence is anyone guess.  Making some attempt to keep guns away from the mentally ill is the right thing to do.  Romney’s correct when he says it’s about the “individuals who chose to commit violence against others.”  He’s dead wrong when he ignores the absolute necessity of including the Medical Information Bureau in routine checks for mental illness with handgun purchases.

            Romney calls for “thoughtful consideration” in handgun purchases but no new gun laws to prevent the mentally ill from buying firearms.  He knows that DOJ checks don’t involve “thoughtful consideration.”  Adding the MIB as a routine check would give some modicum of added protection before unstable or irresponsible people buy guns.  When white supremacist 40-year-old Wade Michael Page opened fire killing six Aug. 5 at a Sikh temple outside Milwaukee, the media jumped all over the racist angle.  While it’s true Page was racist, it’s also true he was mentally ill.  Aurora Colorado mass murder 23-year-old neuroscience Ph.D. student James Holmes killed 12 when he gunned down innocent moviegoers watching a Batman premier.  He know sits in solitary confinement in the Arapahoe County Jail on a suicide watch awaiting trial with an expected insanity defense.  Recent mass murders have mental illness in common.

               Romney and the NRA talk about responsible gun ownership in keeping with the Second Amendment.  There’s nothing in the Second Amendment that restricts the undesirable or irresponsible from possessing firearms.  Killing three August 12 near Texas A & M, 35-year-old Thomas “Tres” Caffall displayed the same type of mental illness.  “It breaks our hearts his illness led to this,” said Caffall’s mother, adding he’d “been ill.”  If deranged killers can so easily get guns, then it’s obvious that current gun laws don’t protect the public against violent episodes.  Romney takes the view that all gun buyers are equally responsible for their actions.  When individuals commit violence, as Romney suggest, it’s not always personal choice.  Living with delusions or hallucinations, withdrawn from reality, occupying a fantasy world and driven by unrestrained impulses, isn’t a choice.

             Adding the MIB check to a DOJ background check wouldn’t take anymore time to process gun purchases.  If the MIB flags mental illness, then prospective gun buyers should submit to greater scrutiny before receiving firearms.  While some say it’s easy to buy firearms on the black market or gun-collector swap meets, most mass killers obtained their weapons legally through local gun dealers.  Whether or not recent mass killers were high on drugs is also anyone’s guess.  More often than not, drugs or alcohol weaken ordinary inhibitions and lead to violent behavior.  While it’s OK for Romney to support the Second Amendment, it’s not OK to ignore gaping holes in existing federal gun laws that let blatantly mentally ill people to buy guns.  It doesn’t compromise the Second Amendment to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill.  Romney needs to rethink his idea of “thoughtful consideration.”

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.  He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com.and author of Dodging the Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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