Jeffrey Goldberg of the liberal journal The Atlantic gives us a thoughtful article on the use of firearms for self-defense. The article is riddled with most of the usual gun control nostrums. But to his credit, he comes to the realization that the arguments of gun controllers, even in our institutions of higher learning, are based on emotion rather than reality. See his listing of the despicable advice given to students by university officials, essentially advising young people in their care to cower and die at the hands of a mass shooter.
One of his recommendations, however, should never be seriously considered for policy adoption:
“Mental-health professionals could be encouraged—or mandated—to report patients they suspect shouldn’t own guns to the FBI-supervised National Instant Criminal Background Check System, although this would generate fierce opposition from doctors and patients.”
Mental health professionals already are obligated to report to local law enforcement authorities those patients whom they believe may harm themselves or others. Requiring them to rat out gun owners to the FBI (the FBI!) would tempt hoplophobic mental health professionals to abuse the power. It would indeed generate fierce opposition from doctors and patients.
—Timothy Wheeler, MD is director of Doctors for Responsible Gun Ownership, a project of the Second Amendment Foundation.