Multiple people, officers, shot near Texas A&M University

[Tommy_Carcetti]

136. Ideally?

Those are 4 of the most notorious examples. However, there thousands of examples of legal gun owners without any prior criminal record using their weapon to illegally kill, which totally flies in the NRA argument that only criminals with prior records who have obtained their gun illegally use their guns for criminal offenses, and woe unto the poor, persecuted "legal" gun owner.

I'd like to see required annual independent psychiatric evaluations for anyone who wants to carry a gun. I'm serious. If you are going to carry a deadly weapon--the single most popular deadly weapon of choice by a long shot--you should have to be mentally fit to do so. That's how it ought to be.

Of course, with the NRA lobby being what it is, such an idea has a snowball's chance. Unfortuntely.

Still, given that Loughner, Cho and Holmes all have been reported to have exhibited signs of severe mental illness (but due to lack of a criminal record they are not prohibited from legally owning as many weapons as they so chose), there has to be some way to better convey those with extreme warning signs before they are allowed to purchase weapons. At the very least an initial psychiatric evaluation, if not an annual one.