Everybody talks gun control, but nobody talks about increasing funding for mental health services

[xxxsdesdexxx]

98. Obviously, there is no silver bullet in this matter.

We have several problems besides the lack of funding. First, how do we get these people to realize that they are mentally ill, and what do we do if they are and don't believe they are? Secondly, how would we get them to voluntarily seek help, and if they refuse help what do we do then? Thirdly, if they agree to seek help, will it even work? There are people who are beyond help, what do we do about them?

Back to the control of guns. How is that smart gun technology coming along? I believe having some sort of biometric device -- not necessarily RFID chips because that's too invasive -- like fingerprint recognition on all guns would be a step in the right direction. I know it's not foolproof because the registered gun owner could have an episode and go crazy, but I think this should be a part of comprehensive gun control plan. We should reinstate, and strengthen, the federal assault weapons ban. The prior ban had some loopholes which allowed many guns, which we would think of as assault weapons or semi-assault weapons, to be exempted from the ban -- we also need to include guns that have large magazines in the ban. Banning these weapons in the U.S. would inevitably lead to an increase of guns coming across the boarder, so we would need to strengthen our border security to prevent these weapons from coming into the country illegally. Someone suggested in another thread, that we implement a cash-for-guns program at the federal level in order to get these guns off the street. I'm not sure how successful this would be, or how much we would pay for these guns, but I think it could help at some level.

Summary of gun control ideas

- Reinstate and strengthen the federal assault weapons ban by eliminating loopholes which allow some truly automatic and semi-automatic weapons from being exempted from the ban and broaden what is classified as an assault weapon.

- Mandate that all guns in the United States have "Smart Gun" technology such as biometric fingerprint recognition so that only the registered gun owner can use the gun.

- Limit the size of the gun's magazine.

- Possibly have a cash-for-guns program in order to get as many assault/semi-assault weapons off of the streets.

- Eliminate the loophole which allows "Private sellers" to sell guns without running background checks.

- Secure the nation's borders to prevent weapons from entering the country illegally.