Quote:What I am interested in is your honest opinion on what the chances are that the current hysteria (and that's all it is) will actually lead to some significant legislation at the national level regarding weapons control
Some of Obama's plans:
1. Background checks on those buying guns
2. Educate teachers to recognize students who have mental health problems
3. Provide students who have mental health problems with mental health care.
While background checks sound like a good idea, how does Obama plan on running background checks on Chicago gang members ( responsible for 500+ murders in 2012) who are buying their guns from sellers in Mexico?
If the mother of the kid who murdered the 30+ individuals in Conn had a background check, she would have come up CLEAN. Thus a background check in her case, as well as in the case of many other individuals could very well be meaningless, especially since she wasn't in a state of mental health that would result in her killing another person.
Education of teachers? Most adult teachers today can recognize when a child in their class is acting "strange". I don't think paying teachers to take courses in mental health is going to solve the current gun problem. If a child is acting strange, refer him/her to the student nurse, who can then take the issue from there.
Finally Obama wants ready access to mental health care for everyone with mental health issues. Most insurance plans now provide for mental health coverage and it's usually restricted to a set number of visits with a mental health professionl per year. The graduate student who killed all of the movie goers in Colorado was seeing an MD and receiving medical Rxs for his apparent schizophrenia. Did these visits or his meds do him any good?
The boy in Conn who killed the 30+ people in the school had been Dx as autistic. But, being autistic doesn't readily make a person a killer.
Thus having a mental health problem doesn't readily equate to an individual being a killer. Likewise, being treated professionally for a mental health issue is no guarantee that one will not turn out to be a mass killer.
In conclusion, nothing of real and lasting value will come from the recent efforts of Obama in the field of gun control or mental health. He will spend money ( estimated to be about $150,000,000) for what it's worth.
The mass killings that have occurred in the USA will continue until we learn why we as humans hate and want to hurt others.