One Psychological Evaluation with your Purchase?
Probably like any student assigned to write a paper for tomorrow morning, my thought process might have involved typing “psychological tests” on Google. I soon came across an article form the Huffington Post that quickly caught my attention and curiosity. The 2013 article stated the possibility of a compulsory psychological assessment for anyone purchasing a gun in the state of New Jersey — an idea brought forward by Assembly woman Angelica Jimenez. Although the idea seems completely reasonable to ensure safety and potentially reduce firearm mortality in the United States, where it is a legal right to possess a weapon for one’s own security, it raises numerous ethical and logistical questions.
First and foremost, the validity of the test would have to be assessed. Would the test be able to predict or merely estimate the occurrence (or not) of a future behaviour? And if so, other factors would also need to be covered, such as family history of mental illness, for instance wether or not the weapon would be accessible to other family members who could themselves also suffer from mental illness. That is, the Bill A-3676 created by Mrs Jimenez does aim to include a house visit in order to assess all the possible implications linked to gun ownership in the household unit.
Another point that has been brought up in the discussion around the implementation of this Bill, is about the reliability of the results obtained. It is commonly known in the field of Psychology that different mental health professionals often come to completely different conclusions, even when interviewing the same patient with the same measure of assessment. How would we draw the line between an individual who is thought to be potentially dangerous for some professionals but not all?
Second, not only does the results have to reach consensus among professionals, but they also have to be dependable and authentic, regarding what they were created to measure. Indeed, the responses that the citizen needs to provide to “pass” the test are well known and expected. So what prevents them to “cheat” and omit information about their true health and state of mind?
Finally, studies should definitely be conducted in order to demonstrate the efficacy of this policy in reducing firearm violence in the United States, in order to appreciate its tangible value in society, and whether or not it deserves Government investment.
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Article : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/10/new-jersey-gun-control_n_2450518.html
