Posted on 06/18/2013 8:48:12 AM PDT by aimhigh
Several prominent medical associations have voiced opposition to a proposed gun control rule to increase the number of mental health records shared with the national background check system, saying it would only contribute to the stigma against mental illness.
. . , a key proposition to add mental health records to a national background check database has been vociferously opposed by medical groups. Many voice concern that adding people deemed "mentally unfit" to the national database would increase the stigma of mental illness and dissuade many from seeking help. . . . . . .
Unlike the Manchin-Toomey Bill to expand criminal and mental health background checks for gun purchases, which was defeated in the Senate in April, this amendment would be implemented by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and would not require congressional approval.
In a letter to the HHS, the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors denounced the plan, fearing that people suffering from mental illness would not seek help for their problems as a result. The proposal would only "exacerbate the stigma faced by people with mental illnesses."
The American Medical Association, American Psychiatric Association, and the American Psychological Association also expressed similar concerns in separate letters to HHS.
. . . . . . . . .
The relationship between violence and mental illness should be scrutinized. "Substantial research shows that the vast majority of people with serious mental illnesses never act violently, and the vast majority of violent crimes — 96 percent by the best available estimate — are not perpetrated by persons with mental disorders," said Dr. Paul Appelbaum, past president of the American Psychiatric Association. "Nearly two-thirds of firearm deaths are suicides and about one-third are homicides."
(Excerpt) Read more at medicaldaily.com ...
It would also make people afraid to go get the mental help that they need, which might prevent an actual event.
Logic, never been big with liberals.
Knew someone well that had a situation come up where they could have used some counseling. They had to take a pass on it. In their first interview, they were asked if they owned guns. They replied yes, completed the interview and never went back.
Constitutional rights aside, record-sharing will simply be bad for business.
If people think that mental health professionals under Obamacare are now nothing but government snitches, they’ll avoid getting help, period.
“Out here, pilgrim, a man learns to solve his own problems.”
Maybe real me do, and pershaps some folks aren’t real men. If a guy has to make very important decisions and what seems right one moment doesn’t the next, they’ll seek outside help. Of course, that’s if they can trust the person they’re talking to. Enter the government to game these people at their most vulnerable time.
Most if not all medical groups, hospitals, ERS and clinics have no problem snooping and reporting gun ownership re patients, their patients’ family members and others living in the same home with a patient.
However, they might have a problem reporting a potentially dangerous patient being treated by them, with access to a gun to the feds, state and local police.
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