**Bumped up from the TAM Wire. Posted by Patricia**
Considering the Megyn Kelly coverage of New York confiscating guns using this very excuse, this news is a serious problem. I’ve also mentioned to you that ObamaCare is effectively set up to facilitate the same gun confiscation. Is the Toomey-Manchin bill the key that unlocks that door? It seems as though the Fed isn’t interested at all in locking up the mentally ill (which takes an understandably high standard and, God forbid, extra work), but instead simply using this as an excuse to confiscate. Now, is anyone wondering why they’re desperate to get “universal registration”? I, too, want crazy people to not have access to guns–by being institutionalized. Being locked up, in all frankness, is the only thing that would have stopped Loughner, Holmes, Lanza or the Lone Star Stabber. This is not rocket science, the mass-killers were apparent to *everyone* they encountered as being seriously mentally ill. This is where we need to start.
Once again, I think we’re seeing federal and state actions that have nothing to do with the problem at hand and everything to do with disarming regular, law-abiding Americans. Fight it every step of the way!
I just talked to someone familiar with the Toomey-Manchin proposal who raises a serious concern based on his understanding of the legislation.
Everyone on all sides agrees that we need better help for those with mental health problems who need treatment.
Unfortunately, the person I talked with is concerned that the Toomey-Manchin proposal could discourage people from getting help.
The proposal will allow a doctor to add a patient to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) without ever telling the patient he or she has been added.
There would be no due process requirement. Not all doctors will be able to do it with the same ease, but many will. Knowing a doctor could add him to a federal database as mentally ill without his knowledge could potentially dissuade a patient from going to the doctor in the first place to get help.
Worse, if the doctor does so and makes a mistake, the patient would have to actively work through the system to get himself removed — guilty before being proven innocent. In some states, should a doctor flag you as having mental illness without your knowledge, you may very well see the state come collect your previously purchased guns.
Activist mental health providers will probably be overly aggressive in adding people to the list. Give it five years in liberal areas and people who believe in the physical resurrection of Christ will probably get automatic entry onto the list.
Mental health is a serious issue and the Toomey-Manchin legislation could have negative consequences. Worse, it would still not stop a Columbine, a Newtown, or the daily massacres in Chicago.
Of course, why wouldn’t they? For the current path to maintaining Power is to Deny it to the Populace at large.
Also the Federal HIPPA Law is being Violated in the Great State of NY as if it was just a suggestion.
One of the problems with this whole debate is that no one is defining what is meant by “universal background checks”. If you look at the details of the proposed laws (what little has leaked out). They are designed to turn what used to be ordinary behavior by otherwise law abiding gun owners into felonies. Simple things like giving a firearm as a gift, lending a shotgun to a friend, or letting a buddy use your pistol to fire a few rounds at the range would require a background check. Aside from the nuisance and expense, not doing so would be a felony offense.
These “universal background check” requirements are designed to turn gun owners into felons. Anyone know what happens to your second amendment right to keep and bear arms once you are convicted of a felony?
If this goes through, my prediction is that all of the sudden the Justice Department will get real interested in prosecuting background check violations. Violators will probably not get any jail time or even probation. Probably a small fine but they will be a felon and they will have their guns confiscated – along with any guns belonging to anyone else in the household.