People have been crying for gun control since the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida on February 14th, 2018. They are really using this tragedy that left 17 people dead, gun control advocates are doing everything in their power to get gun legislation passed throughout the nation. One road that the gun grabbers are taking is the advancement of legislation involving the mental health restrictions. I could understand not allowing mentally ill people who have committed violent acts in the past to have a gun, but who is determining the illness? I mean is the government gonna be able to stop me from buying a gun because I took something for ADHD when I was younger? They are already trying to put guns out of my reach by making the age limit 21! In a 2016 study, "Mental illness and reduction of gun violence and suicide," estimates indicate that only 4% of violence is associated with mental illness alone. So even though the evidence shows otherwise why do gun grabbers use mental illness as a cornerstone for gun control? I have talked to people at work and I say they are gonna take our guns, they say no they won't. This reminds me of a post by @Richq11 when he said saying it wont happen here is what will allow it to happen, the truth is they have been trying to take our guns. Over the past few decades the gun grabbers have failed in attempts to ban guns completely, or at least restrict ownership. From gun buyback programs, mandatory trigger locks, to gun taxes, gun control advocates have thrown everything but the kitchen sink in their relentless quest to put the clamps on gun ownership. The problem is I think they have found something that will stick, But what makes the mental health strategy particularly appealing to gun grabbers? In order to crush dissenting views, Soviet authorities deemed any individual that strayed away from orthodoxy to be mentally unfit. As a result, countless opposition figures were incarcerated or forced to go through psychiatric treatments on the grounds of mental illness. Mental illness not only served as a convenient pretext for authoritarians to use state coercion against individuals that they see as a threat, but it also gives them another tool that facilitates their consolidation of power over every nook and cranny of civil society. Its also a big problem when you have organizations like the American Medical Association (AMA), which has publicly stated that gun violence is a “public health crisis,” If bills on mental illness are passed, people may be hesitant to go to the doctors for any minor "mental health" issues. Regardless of whether or not mental health is the main driver behind mass shootings, no person or government can strip anyone from the right to defend themselves, unless of course that person has committed a violent crime in the past. Ultimately, the fixation on mental health in the wake of mass shootings overlooks the main causes of these shootings — the presence of gun-free zones and the lack of market incentives to provide adequate security services in schools across the country. If passed, new mental health provisions could open up the floodgates for further interventions and possibly bar an unprecedented number of law-abiding citizens from owning guns. Policymakers and pundits alike should stop falling for the mental health smokescreen, and start striking at the root of the problem—gun control—when it comes to solving mass shootings in the United States. I dont know what our country is coming to, I just hope I can get into congress before its too late. If the government can convince a big percentage of Americans to give up their right to bear arms, then I dont think we could stop them from surrendering all their rights. We fought a war against a king who had full say in whether you died or lived, so do we really want to throw the revolutionary war in the trash? I mean someone who supports the government violating the rights of the people, they my swell say that they wish the founders never fought the war and just lived under the king like "good people". Well thanks for reading guys, please upvote, follow, and resteem!