Clearly, the so-called authorities are not trustworthy enough to carry out the job of protecting us all from active shooters. The only people capable of stopping an active shooter in a fast and practical manner are armed citizens on the scene at the moment the attack begins.



Third, and most important, is the issue of mental health parameters and how they will be used to restrict gun rights. The ATF already has rules regarding people adjudicated as mentally defective, which includes people ruled a danger to themselves and others by a court, board or commission or other lawful authority. Now, these guidelines themselves can be rather broad, but abuse by government so far has been limited (though some instances have been egregious). If the Trump administration seeks to broaden the guidelines even further, then we may have a problem.



Take for example the unacceptable abuse of military veterans and their 2nd Amendment rights by the Bureau of Veterans Affairs. The VA has in recent years placed restrictions on thousands of veterans, negating their gun rights without due process and without oversight. And all of this has been predicated on the claim that some veterans are mentally defective based on dubious parameters, including whether or not they let their spouse handle household finances.



This is what I am talking about when I bring up the dangers behind mental illness and gun rights. WHO gets to decide who is mentally ill and why they are mentally ill? Will this be done by a jury of our peers? Or, by an unaccountable and faceless bureaucracy? Will the guidelines for mental illness be strict and specific, or will they be broad and wide open to interpretation? Once a person has been labeled mentally defective, will they have the ability to appeal the decision, or will the label haunt them for the rest of their lives?



Gun rights activists should not put blind faith in the Trump administration to ensure that new mental health legislation will remain fair to the 2nd Amendment. Unfortunately, Trump is on record as supporting the No Fly List gun control bill. This type of bill is something liberty activists opposed vehemently under the Obama administration because it allows the government to erase the gun rights of almost anyone without due process merely by placing them on an arbitrary watch list. A list, I will remind readers, that is a matter of national security and not subject to public overview.



Would a list of mentally defective people fall under the same Orwellian standards?