A new bill introduced Wednesday in California aims to keep guns away from those who are suicidal.
Because there’s no way to prove someone wants to commit suicide, they would have to voluntarily give up their right to bear arms.
As Fox News reports, Democratic Representative Rob Bonta is behind AB1927, which the bill’s author says is designed to prevent people with suicidal thoughts or the intent to hurt themselves from purchasing guns.
But, as Bonta told the San Francisco Chronicle, people contemplating suicide would have to provide their names to the state officials processing background checks before a gun is purchased. With their name on the list, they would then be unable to legally buy a gun. If at some point they decided that they are no longer suicidal, those who have voluntarily relinquished their Second Amendment rights can have their names removed from the list if they can demonstrate that they are free of suicidal thoughts.
Bonta maintains that Californians who kill themselves with a gun commonly do so within days of obtaining one. He cited documents from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that say self-inflicted gun shot wounds accounted for more than 1,000 suicides in 2015.
“We know suicide can be an impulsive decision that most survivors regret,” a statement from Bonta reads. “Guns are lethal and, unfortunately, rarely allow for second chances.”
Bonta did not explain why people wanting to kill themselves would want to prevent themselves from buying a gun.
The Chronicle says Bonta’s bill has the approval of the gun-control activists in the state. As Ari Freilich of the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence said, “We support legislation that would empower people struggling with suicidal urges to promote their own health and safety in moments of calm and clarity by voluntarily adding their names to confidential gun background-check databases for a temporary period.”
