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I think that he's wise to get ahead of this. A red flag law without recourse is a poor option.

We don't need a psych eval as a prerequisite. Look at the list of shooters: very few of these people (Paddock and the synagogue shooter) managed to stay below the radar. We don't need more information, but the people know who about dangerous people must have the ability to give that determination teeth. As the law stands, it does not do what it seems like it does.

Case in point: LTC does not require anything beyond the NICS background check's ostensible requirements, but the difference is that people actually review LTC applications and weed folks out. That results in a pool of people who are almost unbelievably unlikely to commit crimes, much less mass shootings.

The problem is that this bill isn't nearly enough, while its failure to be proactive results in a critical lack of due process. When you look at the list of deadliest mass shootings, the overwhelming majority of shooters met the lay definition of mentally defective, and several had involuntary psych holds in their history. None of them were prevented from buying a weapon, and legally all of them answered 4473 question 11f truthfully. The new Lorena Bobbitt documentary shows John Wayne using his (presumably legally owned) pistol, seemingly to imply that domestic abusers can remain armed. I'd be more upset at their failure to mention 4473 questions 11h and 11i, but for the fact that neither prevented that jerk from owning a gun.

Form 4473 apparently prohibits these people from owning or purchasing firearms, but in practice it fails spectacularly. The ATF does not prosecute people who attempt to illegally buy guns, while question 11f seems to come from 1950s mental health terms that aren't applied to ANYONE today (no matter how crazy they may be- I have never wtitten "mentally defective" in a chart nor have I ever asked a judge to make that determination).

To make question 11f valid, we must attach DSM-V diagnoses to the NICS and actually report them to the NICS. I would argue that a searchable list of prohibited persons and penalties for private citizens who knowingly sell to people on that list effecticely closes the "gun show loophole" without actually infringing on anyone's rights to sell or give away a gun.