Gun control

[Jcol6268]

NJ has a pretty thorough initial background check, which includes a mental health check. Your mental health records (most likely unbeknownst to most), are held at the county level (in which you may receive treatment or evaluations). I know there must be at least a few members here who have had to have a doctor sign off on their backgrounds to move forward (or be denied), considering mental health hits 1 out of 3 of us. This also includes backgrounds (police contacts, police reports, etc.) from jurisdictions that you’ve lived in the past ten years, which includes other states. So when your school classmate reported your Facebook post that you made about shooting your bully, that report pops up. That’s in addition to the criminal checks, character checks, etc. 

Once you apply for a handgun permit (later on, maybe years down the road), the same background check takes place. 
 

I’m sure many people don’t realize how many shootings there really are in NJ, but NJ’s gun violence is exactly what we talk about, criminals that don’t listen to laws, and background checks wouldn’t prevent them. 
 

Suicides shouldn’t be looked at as gun violence. To say someone isn’t going to kill themselves because they don’t have access to a gun is nonsense. It’s just too easy to kill yourself, and people that get enough courage to do it, are gunna do it, whether they have access to a gun or not. I’ve seen plenty of very creative ways of killing yourself, in addition to the basics of hangings, shootings, pills, CO in a car, helium tricks etc. 

What NJ doesn’t have a problem with, are mass shootings (the type that are mental health issues). In that sense, I think we have done something right.