From the article:
What's lacking in the current system is not a faster way to declare citizens insane, but a functional method of assembling and disseminating the data regarding those who are truly dangerous. In too many cases that's simply not being done and it allows for holes in the already adequate background check system. If the states can manage to fix that problem, we might be willing to talk about tweaking it a bit in the future.
As with so many subjects when it comes to gun control, the remedy to the very real problem of gun violence would be achieved by simply enforcing the laws we currently have and putting smart people in charge of administering the system. But since we can't seem to manage that, Democrats will continue to conclude that more and "better" laws are needed, ignoring the fact that the worst violent crime rates in the nation remain stubbornly high in the places with the strictest gun laws. As for the crazy people… perhaps we need to examine those seeking elected office a bit more closely before we go chasing down the hoi polloi.
This seems to me a rather rational discussion. We do need to be able to identify irrational folks and restrict their access to weapons. This is not a bad idea per se. But, who gets to judge their "irrationality"? It always leads back to some kind of governmental control and systems that are rife for abuse. How much uncertainty can we willingly accept in order to preserve our freedom? Some recent articles suggest the homicide rate from weapons is declining even though we seem to have these high profile events in the news. Are we being driven by the news cycle? Can we find some acceptable balance that identifies most troublesome folks without overly restricting the freedom of everyone else?
How does personal carry play into this? "When seconds matter, the police are minutes away". There was a time in the evolution of our society when most people carried and peace officers were few and far between. People learned to live mostly reasonably with their neighbors and banded together when necessary to take on the bad guys. While this was not a perfect solution, and posse's can get out of control, for the most part it tended to promote stability in our society and we functioned and flourished. There was an old saying, from those times. Something like - People learned to be courteous to each other when everyone carried. There might be some truth in that old wisdom.