Do you support laws to prevent people with mental illness from purchasing guns?

No!

Should someone with OCD be prevented from owning a gun?
When their mental illness causes them to count their steps and wash their hands three times? Does that make them a threat?

What about someone with social anxiety?
Should someone who is unable to be out in a crowd be prevented from owning a gun? Should the fact they can't shop in a mall or crowded store, that they can't go to a ball game or theater on opening day mean they don't deserve to have a gun?

How about someone with an eating disorder? Or sexual dysfunction? What about if they have their problem under control with medication? Should a diagnosis prevent them from being able to protect themselves?
 
 
Last one. (Possibly most important one)
What about someone who has mental illness as a result of abuse, and the reason they want a gun is because they are scared to death or what will happen if their abuser finds them again? Should someone be prevented from owning a gun because of what someone did to them, someone they may need to protect themselves from in the future?
 
 
There has been a great deal of research showing how abuse, especially child abuse, can prime the brain for mental illness later in life, most notably anxiety disorders and depression. Dissociation, borderline personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder, eating disorders and more can all be caused partially or entirely by abuse and not one of them makes a person a danger to others.

It really depends on what you mean by mental illness. The term is much broader than I think the person asking the question realizes.

It is already against the law in most states for someone with a history of violence to purchase a gun (i.e. background checks are mandatory in many states). What qualifies as a history of violence does vary from state to state but generally if a person has severe mental illness to the point that they have a criminal record or have been actually committed then they probably can not purchase a firearm.

Another point which governing body would be enacting these suggested laws? The American national government has some pretty serious restrictions on what it is allowed to do regarding individual gun ownership but the American states have much greater authority to pass restrictions. So if the law was being debated in a state legislature and it was reasonable then I might support it but if it was being debated on the American national level I would oppose it - even if it was a good law - b/c the American national government simply lacks the authority to legislate on this matter absent an Amendment to our constitution.

In narrow contexts, yes.

The mere fact of a mental illness obviously should not bar someone with no history of violence from owning a gun.

However, in cases where a person has a mental illness that makes them immediately dangerous, such as psychopathy, sadism, etc., perhaps that should be taken into account. I'd say that it should still not be enough to actually on its own bar ownership, but perhaps we should have a "red flag" system where too many "red flags" bar one from purchasing a gun or using it without strict monitoring. That having been said, someone who is medicated and has a note from an appropriate professional that they are successfully managing their condition should have such a "red flag" removed.

But the vast majority of the mentally ill are no threat to themselves or others, especially if they get proper treatment. My number one concern in thinking about this question is actually stopping depressed people from getting easy access to firearms for the purposes of suicide. But a suicidal person will find a way no matter what laws we would enact, and the civil liberties costs would be too high. Still, perhaps waiting periods should be extended for people with a history of suicide and no proof of current treatment. This would require better databases, but that is going to be something we need anyways.

One of the problems is that doctors say they can't always identify which mentally ill person will become violent. You could pass a law saying that anyone who seeks therapy or medication for mental illness cannot own a gun, but what if they already own a gun before they seek treatment? Are you going to confiscate the weapons they already own? What if a soldier returning from war or a hunter feels like he has a mental illness? He might avoid getting treatment because he doesn't want to give up his gun(s). You might say that choosing one's guns over one's mental health is irrational, but what are we talking about here? That's right----mental illness!

I support stronger gun control, but I find this type of classification appalling. Mental illnesses range from schizophrenia and alzheimer's to ADHD and anorexia nervosa. In the future, I would support gun control legislature along this line, but there needs to be much stronger specification in terms of which diseases, as well as regulating along different severities of said diseases.

It seems like a good idea, but it will be difficult to determine. Sociopaths can test out normal under most conditions, but they are the most dangerous ones to have a gun. But a law at least preventing some mentally ill people is still better than none at all.

Define mental illness!

Is it someone who takes antidepressants?
Is it someone who is always depressed?
Is it someone who has Aspergers?
Is it someone who is Autistic?
What about those who have Downs Syndrome? Is that a mental illness?
Maybe only those who are diagnosed as psychotic.
Maybe it's someone who is only dangerously Autistic!
Maybe it's just that weird guy who lives alone at the end of your street!

How do we determine who is merely mentally ill and those who are dangerous? What do we do with those who are dangerous?

We need to have a place for these people to go when they need help and we need to give them help even when they cannot pay for it. Right now, in the US, there few places for people who have money to go when they need mental help, much less for people who do not have the means to pay for treatment. Insurance is no help. Have you looked at your health insurance? How much help will your policy give you if you need mental health treatment? What happens to your health insurance if you are unable to work?

A law that prevents people with mental illnesses from owning guns may be warranted, but with the proliferation of guns in our society, it's not difficult for them to get guns and ammo anyway. What we need is better identification of mental illness and widely available treatment opportunities for people with mental illnesses.

Why, if they have a known problem that would allow them to consciously go out and kill people, are they not being taken care of PRIOR to their walking into a gun shop and buying guns?

Or is this law designed to make EVERYONE mentally ill enough so that NO one is allowed to purchase weapons?

This law is the same doublespeak that riddles the entire legislature at this time... it allows for nonsense legislation to be passed that can only be interpreted as a bypass of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

I don't think people should really be allowed to buy guns at all, really, it just doesn't seem necessary to me.