Ok James, here is my "take".
Part of the issue is combining "common sense" and "government regulation" in the same sentence.
Who determines "mental health"? Someone could look at certain children diagnosed with ADD/ADHD and see them as "mentally unfit" and add them to a government database "watch list". What do we do when those children grow up? Do they keep the scarlet MU? Do we REALLY want to go there? The problem for most government programs is once they start, they are like the Terminator and execute orders without feeling, without remorse, and are very hard to bring down.
My
Exhibit A on why government regulation doesn't work is the shooting at
Fort Hood. Up until the shooting, he could have passed all screening. He was, after all, a major in the US Army. The government
repeatedly chose to ignore the warning signs that Major Hasan was becoming radicalized. Why? Political Correctness? Perhaps. Regardless of the reason, our countrymen were gunned down as he shouted "Allahu Ahkbar!"
I'd rather live in a risky world where I am free to make my own choices and adapt, then to have choices forced on me by the government in the name of being "safe".
Perhaps our government should stop looking at materials such as BP and pressure cookers, and start looking at radicalized Muslims. Just a thought.
Greg