Gun control: ACLU posts video opposing electronic tracking of mentally ill, calling it useless, potentially harmful

Brett T. | 6:56 PM on September 11, 2019

You probably don’t remember it, but back in Spring 2017, people like Rachel Maddow were crowing at the top of their lungs that President Trump was trying to arm people with “severe mental illness.” Like the word “racist,” they just reflexively threw in the word “severe” for shock value, and Bette Midler said she was going to cancel that check she’d just written to the ACLU when she found out the organization was actually for Trump’s plan.

Trump’s plan had little to do with arming the mentally ill and everything to doing with extricating the Social Security database from background checks and restoring due process. What? Did you sign over control of your Social Security checks to another party? You’re mentally ill and can’t own a gun!

Now we’re talking about red-flag laws that again do and end-run around due-process and unnecessarily stigmatize people with mental illness as potential mass shooters. We’ll bet the ACLU is going to lose a ton of donations over this, but we applaud them.

Saying this again: Mental health diagnoses are not predictors of violence.

This stigma is dangerous. @spmizner, the director of our Disability Rights Project, explains why. pic.twitter.com/AtifWFU4T4

— ACLU (@ACLU) September 11, 2019

R.I.P. your mentions, as they say.

We need more of these PSAs. I just had an officer ask what was the percentage in correlation between mental health and shootings. I explained that people with mental health disabilities are at a higher risk of being targeted by gun violence than being a perpetrator #EndTheStigma

— Julia Wolhandler (@advocatEquality) September 11, 2019