Originally posted by Aircow
reply to post by fmcanarney
On your list of infringements you have
prohibitions of mental health or substance abuse from purchase
Do you really think that meth smokers and schizophrenics should have guns?
Neither the Second Amendment nor anywhere in the Constitution is there a distinction made about people and their rights that would preclude them from
rights, except lawful incarceration. Schizophrenia is a psychiatric term of a non-specific category used to describe any of several psychotic
disorders. In short, it is a catch-all phrase that has defied specific definition. Consider the various definitions offered on the internet as an
example. wordnetweb offers this as a defintion:
(n) schizophrenia, schizophrenic disorder, schizophrenic psychosis, dementia praecox (any of several psychotic disorders characterized by distortions
of reality and disturbances of thought and language and withdrawal from social contact)
faqs.org/health offers this for a definiton:
"Schizophrenia (pronounced skit-suh-FREH-nee-uh) is a psychotic disorder or group of psychotic disorders that cause a patient to lose touch with
reality. It is marked by severely impaired reasoning and emotional instability and can cause violent behavior.
Schizophrenic patients are often unable to make sense of the signals they receive from the world around them. They imagine objects and events to be
very different from what they really are. If untreated, most people with schizophrenia gradually withdraw from the outside world.
Exactly what schizophrenia is has been the source of considerable disagreement among psychiatrists (doctors who deal with mental disorders). There is
some thought that the disease psychiatrists call schizophrenia is actually a number of different conditions classified under a single heading."
Under Wikipedia's article in the section entitled "standardized criteria" this is offered:
"The most widely used standardized criteria for diagnosing schizophrenia come from the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorders, version DSM-IV-TR, and the World Health Organization's International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related
Health Problems, the ICD-10. The latter criteria are typically used in European countries, while the DSM criteria are used in the United States and
the rest of the world, as well as prevailing in research studies. The ICD-10 criteria put more emphasis on Schneiderian first-rank symptoms, although,
in practice, agreement between the two systems is high.[20]
According to the revised fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR), to be diagnosed with schizophrenia,
three diagnostic criteria must be met:[4]
1. Characteristic symptoms: Two or more of the following, each present for much of the time during a one-month period (or less, if symptoms
remitted with treatment).
* Delusions
* Hallucinations
* Disorganized speech, which is a manifestation of formal thought disorder
* Grossly disorganized behavior (e.g. dressing inappropriately, crying frequently) or catatonic behavior
* Negative symptoms—Blunted affect (lack or decline in emotional response), alogia (lack or decline in speech), or avolition (lack or
decline in motivation)
If the delusions are judged to be bizarre, or hallucinations consist of hearing one voice participating in a running commentary of the
patient's actions or of hearing two or more voices conversing with each other, only that symptom is required above. The speech disorganization
criterion is only met if it is severe enough to substantially impair communication.
2. Social/occupational dysfunction: For a significant portion of the time since the onset of the disturbance, one or more major areas of
functioning such as work, interpersonal relations, or self-care, are markedly below the level achieved prior to the onset.
3. Duration: Continuous signs of the disturbance persist for at least six months. This six-month period must include at least one month of symptoms
(or less, if symptoms remitted with treatment).
Schizophrenia cannot be diagnosed if symptoms of mood disorder or pervasive developmental disorder are present, or the symptoms are the direct result
of a general medical condition or a substance, such as abuse of a drug or medication."
Directly under the "standardized criteria" section is a section entitled "Confusion with other conditions"
There are psychiatrists, Thomas Szasz being one of them, who have railed against the efficacy of schizophrenia for a number of years. In his book
Schizophrenia - The Sacred Symbol of Psychiatry, Szasz has this to say:
"There is, in short, no such thing as schizophrenia"
American psychologist Ted Sarbin PhD. and James C. Mancuso PhD, also a psychologist, together wrote a book called; Schizophrenia - Medical Diagnosis
or Moral Verdict? that in its epilogue states:
"Among other things, we have tried to establish that the schizophrenia model of unwanted conduct lacks credibility. The analysis directs us
ineluctably to the conclusion that schizophrenia is a myth"
There is just too much about the dubious term schizophrenia that is arguably unknown. Because of this, arguing that people diagnosed with
schizophrenia should not be afforded the same rights as everyone else smacks of an elitism of the worst kind.
As to those who are addicted to methamphetamine's, they also are people who you seem to be arguing should not be afforded certain rights because of
this addiction. The strength and universality of rights is that they belong to all people regardless of who they are and while those who commit
crimes necessarily forfeit certain rights in order to establish justice, once any conviction that has been rendered against them has been satisfied,
the notion that they are no longer worthy of rights only serves to undermine the unalienable nature of rights.
Rights are not granted by governments they are natural and preexist any artifice formed that we call government. The Second Amendment makes clear
that the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. It is a simple but clear prohibition placed upon the state and federal
and even local governments.