That part we've pretty much got a grip on, but what about the other part? What does "the right of the people to keep and bear arms" mean? If something is not covered by the meaning of this right, can there be an infringement of the right regarding that something?
You wrote "If you've not been adjudicated mentally defective, then you can own firearms under the existing law" implying that if you have been adjudicated mentally defective then you can't own firearms under the existing law. We both might agree with such law, but what is it about the words "the right of the people to keep and bear arms" that allows denying such a person the right without that denial being an infringement of the right?
That’s exactly the reason I specified “existing law.” Again, mental health is not an affirmative offense. There are millions of men and women walking among us who are mentally unwell, but they often don’t seek treatment. That doesn’t immediately make them killers!
Mental health has been stigmatized by the public as to mean that you are “psychotic.” In reality, most people shoulder a lot of emotions and don’t express them in any way. Over time, those emotions boil over. If I ran to a shrink every time my wife and I fought or I had an emotional rant boil over with a sibling, I’d be institutionalized! Anger and emotional outbursts are actually normal parts of the human experience. It’s only when those outbursts become violent that they are problematic.
Seeing a mental health professional doesn’t make you crazy. Sometimes you need to talk to an unbiased third-party to help make sense of an oftentimes complex world. In general, these massacres across the nation have been committed by children or young adults who are medicated on drugs that even disclaim in television commercials: “May cause suicidal thoughts or actions in teens and young adults,” yet we STILL prescribe them.
Anyway, mental health doesn’t not mean mental infirmity. “Mentally Defective” is a legal term proscribed by a judge after a person has been deemed to be unfit to partake in society due to a lack of sanity or grasp on reality. While I don’t agree that men (and women) in black robes should be making that distinction, general mental health should not be an immediately dismissive aspect to gun ownership.
[[but what is it about the words “the right of the people to keep and bear arms” that allows denying such a person the right without that denial being an infringement of the right?]]
The determination of risk-
We haver the right to free speech- insofar as it does not create undue risk- you can’t yell ‘fire’ in a crowded theater. You can however stand up and yell Marshmallows’ if you wish- although you may get trhrown out for disruptign hte movie