The NRA doesn't want the government to create a national gun registration database. The NRA does want the government to create a national mental health registration database. As long as the "it's not us, it's them" mentality rules the day, precious little will change.

Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott joined mental health professionals and gun control advocates today to explore ways to "help heal our communities." The forum at St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx follows the shooting massacre in Newtown, and efforts in Washington and Albany to combat gun violence.

Much of the gun control debate has focused on banning high-powered weapons and limiting the number of bullets that can be fired rapidly. But many Americans want the government to focus on keeping guns out of the hands of mentally ill people with a violent history. What do you say?

Do you welcome more advanced procedures for identifying troubled students in schools? Do you agree with the National Rifle Association's idea of creating a national database for the mentally ill? Should family members of people with mental illness be prohibited from buying weapons? What ideas do you have to combat gun violence?

Send your thoughts using the link above.

John,

Sure I think the mentally ill should not have guns or any weapon. But what is the definition of a dangerously mentally ill person? Who's going to define the conditions? Will they be required to wear an ID saying "I'm mentally ill and potentially dangerous?" Should they be locked up in Willowbrook like facility where some, perhaps many were not mentally ill at all? I don't trust the government to make these determinations.

Joe
Port Richmond

How about this country start treating the mentally ill? They often are living on the streets due to no housing options. Court ordered outpatient treatment better known as AOT is a watered down version of what it should be. It is a good start to a program that like most services for the mentally is underfunded. If rifle owns don't want a data base for them then why have one for the mentally ill.

Psychiatric nurse practitioner
Queens NY

I'm not concerned about the mentally ill, who are basically too consumed by their illness to worry about guns, as much as I am of someone who is not considered mentally ill but "socially maladjusted" enough to harm others, as the records of recent mass killers show, therefore the way to solve the gun violence issue is to outlaw assault weapons, have effective background checks, and limit the output of firepower.

Felix
Bay Ridge

I think Walcott can't even straiten out the problems in general that we have in education so why would he be involved in the mental health part of it. It doesn't make sense to me at all since we all are familiar with the 600 schools and with that they gave out medication to students and had no parental permission. I'm going back a while about this. Whether it still exists or not I have no idea.

I TELL YOU THAT THIS BLOOMBERG SHOULD BE SITTING ON THAT PANEL HIMSELF AND NOT SEND A PUPPET THERE TO MAKE A DECISION ABOUT SOMETHING SO PERSONAL = IT'S SCARY TO ME.

Thank you John,
maxxiee
mp

Frankly, a national database that somehow catalogues the mentally ill is not only ethically wrong, but legally wrong as well. You'd run into issues of doctor/patient confidentiality at the very least. No, the NRA is only mentioning something so ridiculous as to sway attention away from guns as it has been a hot topic to say the least since the latest mass shooting has given the federal government another excuse to denigrate the second amendment. While tampering with the bill of rights is inexcusable, a federal government database to catalogue and stigmatize the mentally ill is as well. They're out of their minds to think people will see this as anything other than rodeo clowning (getting attention away from gun legislation and their previously ridiculous statements by making even MORE ridiculous statements). It's never going to happen, and if it WERE to happen, it'd be a slippery slope towards a national database for other medical issues as well. Mass shootings are terrible, granted, but the last thing we need is further tampering with the constitution, be it through a national database for the mentally ill, or anything else. Not only do we have the second amendment, NRA, guaranteeing our right to bear arms, but also the guarantee of privacy.

Regards,
Aaron

I would like to remind you that we are all mentally ill at times. The difference between many of the functionally mentally ill and "regular" people is that the the regular people just haven't sought treatment yet. Why should people who actually are trying to work on themselves and their issues through therapy be stigmatized as somehow less than the rest of society?

There is enough of a stigma already. We do not need to have a national registry to institutionalize this treatment of the mentally ill.

Matt from Queens...

The problem with Mental Illness is that it could fall upon any person at any time in their life. So a national database would be almost useless but not completely.

The national database for mentally ill could also hinder the mentally ill when it comes to getting a job.

The Angry Prepper

I agree there should be more screening including family. More laws of locking up guns and making it a felony if any gun owner doesn't. Also how does a kid "know" how to use an assault weapon to begin with? How did he know how to load and fire them shortly after taking them? The only way to prevent the Sandy Hook Tragedy is to reduce violence that can be viewed on TV and video games by children AND adults.

-David
Boca Raton

Anyone who can kill people ...especially children with no remorse has to be mentally ill..no matter how sane they appear to be and we as the public have the right to know who they are!!!

McGriff from bklyn

A discussion about mental health and mental health services is necessary in times like this and all the time. However, we have to make sure we are being accurate in our discussions. Someone with a mental illness is much more likely to harm themselves than anyone else. Also, things like a "mental illness database" is just the type of thinking that creates stigma which prevents people from seeking mental health treatment in the first place. As a mental health clinician, I think that educating communities accurately about mental health issues violence, and mental health treatment is a way to encourage people to seek help when they need it.

Alyse L.
Brooklyn

There are too many guns for any physical control solutions to work. We can only work to create a society that needs guns less.

Philip, Harlem

I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in NYC and currently work for a managed care company who over sees Medicaid money for mental health and chemical dependency treatment. The reality is the public has NO IDEA what is happening with their taxes. How horribly run the Medicaid system in New York is and how no one is truly monitoring the abuse of Medicaid. If the public really wanted funds available for public issues they should lobby for medicaid to be TRULY overhauled. Hospitals are abusing medicaid and the public doesnt seem to want to acknowledge this. All of this money could be used to help people but the public continues to not want to know ..its the states dirty little secret...medicaid is stealing from taxpayers. Oddly enough ...managed care and medicaid money hasnt been a focal point of your show either....why not?!?

Anonymous

Dear John,

I just did an Internet search and discovered many Country Western U.S. States teach high school students about gun and rifle safety. Could you just image, a high school teenager who carries a gun or rifle and more responsible than an adult.

Kevin
Stapleton
Staten Island, New York

While I am in favor of stricter gun control laws, I am against a mental illness database. I strongly believe their should be additional mental screening once someone applies for a license and that there is routine screening once a license is renewed.

I think implementing a mental illness database is violating an individual's rights. Just because someone has a mental illness doesn't mean that they will automatically cause harm to others. The mistakes of a few shouldn't punish everyone.

Andrea
Staten Island, NY

hello john,

For all those people who want to include AR15’s in the assault weapons ban, let me make it absolutely clear to you: AR15s are simply single shoot, semi-automatic guns – when you pull the trigger once, it shoots one shoot, you have to release the trigger and pull it again one more time to shoot one more shot. If you pull the trigger and hold it down it will not continue to shoot many shoot rapidly – despite how they look physically / appearance. They are not automatic guns, there are not machine guns, they cannot shoot 4/5/6 bullets per second, and they are not design to kill as many people as possible. They are design for home defense, target shooting, hunting, and competition. For a gun to be consider as an assault weapon, it should be judge by its functionality – not by its appearance / looks – and sticking a pistol grip, in the definition, does nothing at all to the functionality of a gun.

mark
pelham gardens -- bronx.

This is politricks, the people that have caused mass killings all have gotten their weapons legaly, none were illegal like the ones, the murders of single little children in bronx, and brooklyn

J.W.

This is about irresponsible gun ownership; this is about illegal guns; this is about bullying. These are the individuals causing harm, anxiety etc. in others. Sociopathic and psychopathic behavior and tendencies are not the same as anxiety, anorexia, etc. The N.R.A. respresents responsible, legal gun owners. They represent the 2nd Amendment of the Constitution. Even Vice President Biden told his wife to get a double barrel shotgun for protection instead of an assault rifle. It was on the television today.

Irresponsibility, illegal behavior, intimidation and bullying often comes from poor parenting skills, ignorance, anger, narcissism, drug use, and/or lack of moral/spiritual upbringing, and environment. Or you might say that the parenting often educates the child coming up to be exactly like that! And that behavior is not prejudicial, but crosses all ethnic barriers and socioeconomic levels. And this is not black and white. It's about irresponsibility and illegal behavior of some, not all.

NY has one if not the toughest gun laws and background checks for legal and responsible gun owners. I agree with the N.R.A. I believe in the Constitution of the U.S.A. The Civil War, American Revolution would not have happened if we were not allowed to have guns. We would not be a FREE Country. We do not need this country to become communist, or to become a dictatorship, or to become similar to time of the Nazi regime.

Thank you,
Mable in Dongan Hills