>>>http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-us-congresswoman-shot,0,842180.story
>>
>>We know Gabby Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly, so yesterday was a very tough day (especially with the early wrong reports of her death).
>>
>>I would be appalled by this incident no matter who the victims were but this is personal for me. I blame, first of course, the shooter. But I also blame those who allowed an obviously unstable young man to have a gun and who generally oppose efforts to restrict access to weapons by the mentally ill. I also blame all those who have, by their demagoguery, set a tone in this country that implies that guns are the way to solve political problems.
>>
>>Tamar
>
>Was he ever diagnosed as mentally ill?
>
>I'm wondering how the privacy laws would work with that - how do we somehow restrict guns from the mentally ill without disclosing their illness and breaking privacy laws? If he owned weapons before being diagnosed, how do the authorities get notified to go retrieve them? Do we have a master database with names of people who cannot legally own guns (just like felons)? How do we stop mentally ill people (especially the mentally ill with dangerous tendencies or dangerous skills) from having any access to weapons?

I agree. Hard questions. In this case, it's early days yet. Already in today's paper, there are some quotes from people who know him about behavior that was clearly disturbed. I imagine we'll learn more as time goes on.

In terms of methods, how about a set of required checks for gun sales, that include a criminal background check, and a medical clearance. For the medical clearance, couldn't it be like the one you need to get a drivers' license--your doctor completes a form. That's imperfect since someone could be mentally ill without a primary physician knowing it, but you'd hope that for a form like this, the doc would require a visit and actually spend some time with the person.

Tamar