From:                                         Jim Gottstein [jim.gottstein@psychrights.org]

Sent:                                           Saturday, March 23, 2013 3:34 PM

To:                                               MMFlint@MichaelMoore.com

Cc:                                               'Jim Gottstein'

Subject:                                     #RAquestion Have You Joined the Witch Hunt Against People with Psychiatric Diagnoses?

 

Dear Mr. Moore:

 

On December 16th you tweeted:

 

Michael Moore         @MMFlint

The short term solution? A law immediately banning semi-automatic weapons & mega-clips. Must have license to own gun. Must pass mental exam.

 

It is unclear to me whether by saying people must pass a mental exam to own a gun you are joining the witch hunt to round up all the people who have been given psychiatric labels and preventing them from owning guns.  This "Psychiatric Profiling" is nothing more than scapegoating because the contribution of people diagnosed with mental illness to the overall gun death problem is nil.  There was a recent story in the Washington Post showing that psychiatrists cannot predict who might commit horrific acts such as Columbine and NewTown, and that people diagnosed with mental illness are not significantly more likely to commit violence,  Predicting violence is a work in progress, Washington Post, January 3, 2013  (I am quoted at the very end).  In another e-mail to you I asked about investigating the role of psychiatric drugs in such gun massacres, but these are extreme and rare events that constitute a miniscule fraction of the gun murders in this country.  Thus, while universal background checks for violent criminal convictions, etc., might help, it is clear that Psychiatric Profiling won't. 

 

So, my question to you is have you joined the witch hunt against people with psychiatric diagnoses?   

 

For more background on this, see PsychRights' Letter to the President's Task Force on Gun Violence.  You might also look at the Mayors Against Illegal Guns recent report, Mass Shootings since January, 2009, which includes:

 

We did not find evidence that any of the shooters were prohibited from possessing guns by federal law because they had been adjudicated mentally ill or involuntarily committed for treatment.

 

James B. (Jim) Gottstein, Esq.
President/CEO

Law Project for Psychiatric Rights
406 G Street, Suite 206
Anchorage, Alaska  99501
USA
Phone: (907) 274-7686  Fax: (907) 274-9493
jim.gottstein@psychrights.org
http://psychrights.org/

 PsychRights®
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The Law Project for Psychiatric Rights is a public interest law firm devoted to the defense of people facing the horrors of forced psychiatric drugging and electroshock.  We are further dedicated to exposing the truth about these drugs and the courts being misled into ordering people to be drugged and subjected to other brain and body damaging interventions against their will.  Currently, due to massive growth in psychiatric drugging of children and youth and the current targeting of them for even more psychiatric drugging, PsychRights has made attacking this problem a priority.  Children are virtually always forced to take these drugs because it is the adults in their lives who are making the decision.  This is an unfolding national tragedy of immense proportions.  Extensive information about all of this is available on our web site, http://psychrights.org/. Please donate generously.  Our work is fueled with your IRS 501(c) tax deductible donations.  Thank you for your ongoing help and support.