Many people think that background checks are a waste of time. But background checks are one of the big reasons people with mental disabilities do not receive automatic weapons.
Still, background checks don’t go very deep into the person’s criminal psychological history. Every day in America, according to a story in the New York Times, a crime is committed every 23.7 seconds and 5 percent of those are committed by people with mental disabilities. As a 14-year-old, I believe this number could be dramatically reduced if there were a higher number of background checks in America.
The big problem is, if people with a mental illness get their hands on a gun, they could kill big groups of people. Background checks would significantly reduce this number.
Kent Stricker
VANCOUVER
