Explain Why Mentally-Ill People Should Be Allowed To Have Guns

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Does a spoon make a person fat? Is McDonald's solely responsible for obesity in the United States? Are cars the causes of crashes? Of course not. In the same way, guns are not to blame for murder, people are. Ultimately, guns are the physical cause of death. However, guns cannot pull their own trigger, especially aimed at a person. It requires someone to pull that trigger, and that person can be anyone. Many people misjudge mentally-ill people as the problems of homicides, especially mass shootings, and do not want mentally-ill people to possess guns. However, this is a misconception. Mentally-ill people should be allowed to have guns because they are more likely to fall victim to gun violence, they have the right to possess weaponry as U.S. citizens,…show more content…
Of course, the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting was tragic, but this incident does not define all mentally-ill patients. Although some killers are troubled, those who classify as mentally-ill are more helpless, considering they do not function like most people. They are more likely to be victims, with Rapoport declaring that "people with mental illness are eleven times more likely to be the victims of violence." Also, the Constitution applies to every U.S. citizen and does not discriminate. See, those not of sound mind pay the same consequences that everyone else does for breaking laws, by serving time just like prisoners, only in a psychiatric hospital. Richard E. Vatz confirms this when he states that, "Even when testifying in court . . . the mental health personage usually argues for mitigation, not elimination, of punishment." Despite the fear that people feel toward the deranged people, the facts do not lie. People with mental conditions are not as "dangerous" as the media makes them out to be. If normal people just took the time to converse with a mentally-ill person, they might just be surprised at how poorly perceived they really

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