In the United States, if you are seriously depressed, you can purchase anti-depressive drugs like Prozac, but only if you have a prescription from a doctor. Anti-depressants are enormously beneficial to millions of people but they are also potentially dangerous if used improperly. So you have to see a doctor and get an assessment before can go to a drug store and purchase one.
But in the United States, in places like Virginia, a seriously depressed or deranged person can walk into a gun store and buy a semi-automatic handgun and a box of ammunition. The only limitation in Virginia is you cannot buy more than one handgun a month and you must present two forms of identification. You don't need permission from a doctor or counselor or anyone in the business of screening people to make sure they're fit to have a gun.
We can debate the relative benefits and dangers of anti-depressants and semi-automatic handguns, but if 30,000 Americans were killed each year by anti-depressants, as they are by handguns, it seems likely that anti-depressants would be even more strictly regulated than they are now. So why aren't handguns? Look to politics.
The Pharmaceutical Manufacturer's Association is one of the most powerful lobbies in America. Years ago, drug manufacturers were not allowed to advertise prescription drugs. Now, due in part to Big Pharma's efforts, our airwaves and magazines are filled with images of happy people who presumably used to be unhappy until their physician gave them a prescription for this or that pill.
But Big Pharma is not so powerful as to be able to do away with the physician altogether because the process for screening people before they can buy an anti-depressive is just too important.
By contrast, the National Rifle Association -- with more money and organization than even Big Pharma -- has eliminated almost all screening processes for buying guns. In recent years, the NRA has even shielded gun dealers from liability. Not even Big Pharma and the powerful American Medical Association have managed to shield doctors from liability.
Look abroad and you have another useful point of contrast. In United States, many people who are seriously depressed can't afford to see a doctor, let alone get a prescription. Unlike every other advanced nation, we do not provide universal health care or ready access to mental health services. But unlike every other advanced nation, we do allow just about anyone buy a handgun.
Americans are mostly logical and common-sensical. But the lobbies that have a strangle-hold on American politics don't care about logic or common sense. The National Rifle Association tops the list.
