Every time there’s a massacre, someone demands the mentally ill be deprived of their guns. But as Reason points out, this might not prevent future mass murder.

Even the nation’s premier gun lobby believes keeping guns away from the mentally ill is a good idea. It’s a sensible-sounding proposal, a logical precaution. But some forensic psychiatrists, whose jobs include the task of identifying potentially violent individuals, say that targeting the mentally ill isn’t as simple as it sounds.

 

A recent Mayo Clinic study points out that mass shooters tend to meticulously plan their crimes weeks or months in advance, undermining the idea that the mentally ill simply “snap” and go on shooting rampages while also complicating the notion of effective gun control through gun registries, since a methodical planner has plenty of time to obtain weapons through illegal channels.

Source: http://reason.com/blog/2013/11/23/gun-grab-against-mentally-ill-wont-make

 

If you want to learn more, watch this video by Reason Magazine. It has some interesting insights about why people always see the “warning signs” after the act.