Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Congress woman Gabby Giifords has been shot.

Here's the thing that conserns me. This guy is a mental case. They can't use his ideology so much to denigrate the republicans of the Tea Party. Bet they will make some political hay from it. That will be the "Mentally Ill" end.

Right now the standard is "Adjudicated mentally defective or INVOLUNTARILY committed to a mental institution". Both of these cases require an action by court. An action that has the effect of limiting the exercise of rights. It fills the Due Process clause of the constitution.

Now we go to simple mental illness. What exactly is that. In fact if you would look through DSM-V you would see that just about everyone is mentally ill in some way. It comes down to if you don't ascribe to some ideology. Maybe you are anti- social. Just the opinion of a quack shrink. And who set the standards?

Maybe you went through a spell of major depression, and you checked into a facility. It doesn't mean you are a danger to society, it doesn't mean you don't know right from wrong. Maybe you had problems in the service and were treated, maybe even discharged, that still doesn't mean you don't know right from wrong or that you are wholly or partially a "Mental Case" like this guy.

These things happen in a free society. In fact they happen much more often in a society less free. Let's understand that living in a free society has inherent risks. Do we really want some bureaucratic hack or politician to set a standard in which ANY of your rights can be restricted without due process? Is that the crack in the door we want to give to the politicians? Over rare instances, as a reaction.

Perhaps if we want such a standard people with diabetes of heart disease should not be allowed to drive. In fact they can and do cause accidents in which people get hurt or killed. Yet we have them driving school buses. In fact, that scenario comes to light one heck of a lot more often than a shooting.