[ExI] libertarian ideas ATTN: HENRY

[spike at rainier66.com]

….> On Behalf Of William Flynn Wallace via extropy-chat
Subject: Re: [ExI] libertarian ideas ATTN: HENRY

 

>>…Mental cases: who is a mental case?  …

 

>…Who can predict with any accuracy what a mentally ill person will do, or even is capable of doing?  No one.  …It is impossible to accurately and reliably predict individuals…

 

Ja.  Since we cannot determine who is a mental case for certain, we cannot use that as a criterion for taking away civil rights, such as gun ownership and voting.  We don’t know how to convict someone of being a mental case.

 

>… Personally I would favor a bias that takes away guns from people with certain diagnoses - paranoid schizophrenia at the top of the list… 

 

Ja.  The problem is that we don’t really know how to convict someone of having paranoid schizophrenia.  We don’t know how to determine if someone had a schizophrenic episode but now they are cured and deserve to have their gun rights and voting rights restored.  It is even difficult to convict someone of paranoia based on their wanting to be armed, as they watch unarmed civilians in Afghanistan being murdered by the Taliban.

 

These notions do have important consequences, which I have witnessed.  For certain levels of security clearance, the clearance can be suspended or revoked for any reason, and they don’t always tell why it was suspended.  There is nothing analogous to a trial: the security office calls in the employee, hand over the badge, this officer will escort you out, movers will pack your stuff and bring it out to you in the lobby.

 

One of the things that can cause an arbitrary loss of clearance is being a mental case, but often the security office doesn’t know about that unless the clearance holder reports it, but that must be reported.  Failure to do so is automatic adios clearance, adios job, probably adios career.

 

So… plenty of clearance holders who damn well shoulda been seeing a psychologist or psychiatrist couldn’t risk their clearance (for then they would then lose their health insurance (and then wouldn’t be able to afford help from a mental health professional (or any kind of help (or anything else (such as food and rent)))) so… the most common route was go see a sympathetic pastor, who would perhaps cast out the demons of insanity and pray you suddenly stop being crazy, or a witch doctor who would dance and chant incantations, or… the most common route: tough it out, quiet and alone, usually while steadily getting worse.

 

The pastor and the witch doctor are not reportable to the clearance office, for they are not mental health professionals.  Being quietly insane was not reportable: they don’t ask if you are crazy or if you are seeing a pastor or witch doctor.  Only if you are seeing a mental health professional.

 

>…I am aware of the definition of an automatic weapon.  Those guns which fire one bullet for each pull of the trigger are just about as dangerous.   bill w

 

Ja, and therein lies the problem.  The second amendment is about arming of militias, and of course we want the militias to have dangerous weapons, sheesh of course we do.  They are the civilian army, fer cryin out loud.

 

But note… the legislators keep struggling to find a way to outlaw semi-autos if possible, arguing that they are dangerous too, but cannot really come right out and say they want to ban semi-autos, for most firearms sold today are semi-auto.  A well-known politician running for POTUS ended his political career with one comment, starting with “Hell yes…”  Now the rest of them know to not go there.

 

spike

 

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