That's just ignorance and accepting defeat without even trying. Very un-American if you ask me.
I don't want to imply that mentally ill individuals are like sex offenders and drunk drivers as mental illness is not the person's fault. However, drunk drivers lose their license before they are even convicted and there are iPhone apps that will show me every sex offender in my neighborhood.
I'm not saying we need to do something that drastic, because the mentally ill deserve our compassion first. But systems can be designed to allow computers to talk to each other. Mental health should overlap with law enforcement AND gun permits. As soon as a doctor makes a diagnosis, that report goes in his computer and then a red flag goes up at the gun permit office and the local sheriff's departments.
Knock-knock... "I'm sorry Mrs. Lanza, but your son was given a prescription for an anti-psychotic medication, and, as long as he's living with you, then we have to confiscate the weapons in your name. And, if there are any other weapons in your home, please disclose them now, or we will have to arrest you if we find something w/o permit."
Do you know how much power a child protective service worker has with regard to protecting children? Why aren't we approaching potentially dangerous mental illness in that manner? I am specifically talking about schizophrenia and manic-depression, not garden variety depression or anxiety.
These safety systems are already in place with regard to airline travel.
And, yes, I know about the thriving black market for weapons. So, let's have that conversation. Everyone agrees that selling guns to criminals is something we don't want to happen, well, where did those guns first enter the black market? When did they go from being a legal firearm to an unregistered illegal firearm for sale on the black market? This is not rocket science folks. This giving the ATF and local law enforcement the tools to work together to protect public safety. Yes. It costs money and some people are going to feel unfairly inconvenienced.