Missing the Point About Guns and Mental Illness'

I thought I would hold off posting until the Inauguration (with a 'Partisan Trick')

Wrong.

The President's proves some points that I have written in the Valley earlier.

Follow along.

Let's start with the Executive "actions" i.e. Orders planned by President Obama if his vision is not passed through Congress:

1. Issue a Presidential Memorandum to require federal agencies to make relevant data available to the federal background check system.
2. Address unnecessary legal barriers, particularly relating to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, that may prevent states from making information available to the background check system.
3. Improve incentives for states to share information with the background check system.
4. Direct the Attorney General to review categories of individuals prohibited from having a gun to make sure dangerous people are not slipping through the cracks.
5. Propose rulemaking to give law enforcement the ability to run a full background check on an individual before returning a seized gun.
6. Publish a letter from ATF to federally licensed gun dealers providing guidance on how to run background checks for private sellers.
7. Launch a national safe and responsible gun ownership campaign.
8. Review safety standards for gun locks and gun safes (Consumer Product Safety Commission).
9. Issue a Presidential Memorandum to require federal law enforcement to trace guns recovered in criminal investigations.
10. Release a DOJ report analyzing information on lost and stolen guns and make it widely available to law enforcement.
11. Nominate an ATF director.
12. Provide law enforcement, first responders, and school officials with proper training for active shooter situations.
13. Maximize enforcement efforts to prevent gun violence and prosecute gun crime.
14. Issue a Presidential Memorandum directing the Centers for Disease Control to research the causes and prevention of gun violence.
15. Direct the Attorney General to issue a report on the availability and most effective use of new gun safety technologies and challenge the private sector to develop innovative technologies.
16. Clarify that the Affordable Care Act does not prohibit doctors asking their patients about guns in their homes.
17. Release a letter to health care providers clarifying that no federal law prohibits them from reporting threats of violence to law enforcement authorities.
18. Provide incentives for schools to hire school resource officers.
19. Develop model emergency response plans for schools, houses of worship and institutions of higher education.
20. Release a letter to state health officials clarifying the scope of mental health services that Medicaid plans must cover.
21. Finalize regulations clarifying essential health benefits and parity requirements within ACA exchanges.
22. Commit to finalizing mental health parity regulations.
23. Launch a national dialogue led by Secretaries Sebelius and Duncan on mental health.

 (H/t Malkin)

And if you are a reader of the Valley, you already know of my fights with BiPolar, Aspergers and Government Run Health Care.

The pieces are almost all set; Ride with me in the TARDIS back to my first "Trial by Fire,"  in politics.

Current map of SUNY-Stonybrook. Quick! Find the LIRR!

The Trial by Fire: SUNY-Stonybrook, 1993

I was a University Senator (appointed, which is usually how it begins), representing the students among the Faculty and Staff in the University Senate. (This was a couple of years before I transferred down to AU)

The issue of the moment was, should the Campus Police have guns?

SUNY-Stonybrook was right off the LIRR and a few years back was a random shooting aboard one of the trains.  The Faculty and Staff treated the concept as a theoretical; Howeversince I lived on lived on campus, I asked everyone and anyone where they stood (as an Undergraduate Student University Senator, my representation number was 20,000 students).

I asked students, staff, teachers, grad students, medical students, anyone and everyone --

Did you feel safe on campus after Sunset?
What could the Campus Police or Suffolk County Police do to make you feel safe?
Are we protected from the crime from Suffolk County or New York City?
Do you support guns on campus? 
Or would you rather wait the 20 minutes for Suffolk Police to get on campus? 

Students wanted protection; But when it came time to put it to a vote (I requested that motion), the University Senate called for Adjournment before anyone (Other then the Student Grad and non-grad alike) were willing to go on the record for their votes.  

Its not about Guns, but the Mouses.

Now, let us ride back to today.

With a lot of these shootings, three factors are coming into play:

1) Mental health (and lack of support system for said people);
2) Distrust between Federal Government and the legal gun owners; and finally
3) The old debate between the City Mice and Country Mice.

The Country Mice exist outside of the Spawl and, here in LA, above the 14 and in the Antelope Valley.  Points west to the Inland Empire as well.

I grew up a city mouse.  Supermarkets have food and cops stop crime. I have grown up since then.

Farms from the (unprotected) country brings food to the supermarkets and cops are not necessarily legally allowed to stop crime (according to the DC Court of Appeals).  Here is where my belief Human nature kicks in, of course they will -- I've met enough cops to see the good proven daily by the LAPD. 

Executive Actions and Moving Ideology Forward

Now, look at those 23 Executive "actions"

If a President cannot bring people of his own party (The Senate) and convince the OTHER Party (The GOP in the House, just like Bush I and Reagan did with Dems holding the House during their time), don't claim to be the guy who wants to get along with everybody.

Being President is work.  Convince the legislators of your vision! Use the phone! Some legislators require a carrot, others a stick.  Why is President Obama afraid to do this? 

If you move the Legislature (and both parties) forward with your vision -- it becomes enshrined in the American mythos.  (See LBJ and "The Great Society" and Ronald Reagan and Tax Reform)

Actions 16, 20 - 22 also puts the Mental Health community at risk.

How?

If those suffering with mental health issues cannot go into their Doctor's office and feel safe (especially Government Doctors offices), then where can they go.  It should have been expressed (quietly) in a bill, not in  a press conference.  It can now be blocked because of the Rights of mental health patients (from the Left).

Solutions

Here is a suggestion on all fronts:

For the Gun side, City people depend on their police.  The time between the 911 call and the arrival matters.  People can get hurt or worse.  Citizens with no criminal (or mental health) records should be able to get a Gun and be trained if they so choose. 

I don't know the difference between all the Guns out there (Sorry, as I said, I'm a city kid) -- but you do not need Military style guns to defend (in the city).

My solution in Stonybrook was to have the Guns in a lock box.  if a situation occurred on campus, sign them out and get them to the campus police so they can at least enter the area and be ready when the police arrive.  Who knows? Their quick arrival and readiness might force the attacker to drop their guns.

For the Mental Health Side:

Simple.

These people need safe havens to express their worries, woe and issues.  Let the Doctors contact the Police and FBI etc. anonymously if there are any issues (i.e.the mental health issues are related to violence).

(This was a hard post to write due to dropping over many issues that concern "the real me," so, that's why it took forever to write -- sorry.  More speed after 1/21/13) 

My questions: How would handle the Gun issue between the City and Country folk? 
                       Why is President Obama afraid to sell his programs one-on-one to the Legislators?
                      How about Mental Health issues between Doctors and Government?