Thread: Licensing and mental illness

@kotuku well said mate re you last post,

Over the years the scope of mental illness has expanded to capture a raft of disorders, such so that it's now being referred to as mental distress, which I believe accurately reflects that sometimes, some people have no control of their situation and need the help and support of others.
We can only hope that sometime in the near future government, private and community agencies can work through their red tape to be able to share information amongst each other on a more consistent basis than they are currently permitted to reduce potential risks.

In France, target and recreational shooters with equivalent of B cat and E cat guns have to renew their licence every year and get it signed by their GP. ( that occurs for about 145000 participants and voters).
Hunters who mostly got A. Cat type firearms do not need to see their GP when they renew their annual hunting licence.(1200000voters)

Now the signature of your GP on the licence is a bit like a warrant of fitness. It only says that you are good to go on the day of the issue!
You can have a break down 3 days/ weeks/ months later , so what ?
This is in place because politics don't want to be held responsible in case of a problem, so the GP get the blame if things go wrong.
The shooting licences and right to get B and E cat are issued by the ministry of Sports... One could imagine the scandal "Pumped up" by the media in case of a mass shooting for exemple ? By having the GP signing the licence the ministry is not " responsible"!

Hunters having a very strong voting voice are left with alone and do not have the GP burden. They also pay up to the equivalent of $nz800 to renew their licence every year, so that is a lot of money that goes to the ministry of Agriculture( in charge of the hunters)

Another group of people having guns are the police forces. Nearly 250000 people. I am not sure if they have to see a GP every year but About a 100 of them commit suicide every year and a good proportion with their service handgun.

In the general public mind ,you d think police forces should be composed of strong minded people, that you can trust for having a gun . But helas, even in this group it is hard to predict who has personal problems and can blow up a fuse and take their own life.