Would a Prohibited Persons Register Reduce Gun Death and Injury? Blaming People with Mental Illness for Gun Violence (original) (raw)

Would a Prohibited Persons Register Reduce Gun Death and Injury? Blaming People with Mental Illness for Gun Violence

One proposal to reduce gun-related death and injury is the establishment of a register of prohibited persons – a “black list” of citizens suspected of mental instability or anti-social behaviour. These people could then be denied a firearms licence. Despite years of promotion by pro-gun lobby groups world-wide, no country or state has created such an additional register. In New Zealand, reasons for rejecting this proposal include: - Existing registers already prevent hundreds of thousands of people from owning guns - These could only be substantially enlarged by adding names on mere suspicion - Such a list would unjustly stigmatise and discriminate against people with mental illness, who are no more likely than others to kill or injure another person with a gun - Even if every person with a history of mental illness and/or violent crime was locked away, about eight in ten future gun killers would remain at large - Such a list could encourage licensed gun owners to avoid responsibility for gun violence - Without a register of firearms, police have no way of ensuring that a prohibited person has surrendered all his guns. Gun violence does not require a firearms licence – only a firearm