[TDL]

To the OP, here is the main issue:

What happens when these "common sense" gun control measures do not reduce our gun violence (you know the basket used of suicides and not controlling of other means of murder) rate to that of Australia or the UK?

Do we say, well we need stronger measures, or do we say gun control doesn't work and we need to repeal the measures?

Now onto specifics:

I would like to see a strengthening of NICS to allow doctors to report patients they feel are mentally unstable.

Why to just the NICS? In santa Barbara, while 90% of the press reports make it seem like just a shooting, half the murdered were killed with knives?

So why NICS and guns when the science shows that commitment, involuntary institutionalization is what reduces murder?
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22072224

Why NCIS only when you may be stabbed? Maybe I should know if a roommate, or coworker has depression? Autism spectrum? Anger issues?

And if doctors can report people and reduce their rights even if they are not adjudicated dangerous, wont LESS people go to the doctor? I would be much less inclined to do so and would be less inclined to send my kids to a mental health professional knowing there maybe some permanent reduction federal record.

I fully understand the argument that criminals will ignore gun laws. My main thought is preventing mentally unstable people to from walking into a gun store and legally acquiring a firearm. Now if said unstable person stole a firearm or illegally obtained it, no law or regulation would stop that.

Again what is the definition of mentally unstable? Someone who has sought treatment for anywhere on the spectrum?

And again what is the evidence this would have any efficacy whatsoever?

The other issue is training. As I have mentioned, there is absolutely NO training requirement for buying a deadly weapon and in most states, no proof of capability.

And is there some evidence that training reduces murder? An iota of evidence? Some of these murders are very well trained and some not. Where is the evidence that training reduced murder?

Would training reduce suicide?

So you must mean safety training only due to the amount of accidents. The fact is accidents among legal firearms owners are actually miniscule. Almost all of the accidents are in the homes of criminal owners anyway (if you notice the "studies" on firearms deaths at home, assiduously refuse to apply the key control of whether the firearms owning home was also the home of a drug dealer or gang member, despite copious evidence that most of this is in fact criminals leaving their guns around or their families being shot when one drug dealer robs another).

Are we going to require training for bike riding, or other activities, or pools, which kill more people than household members of non criminal gun owners?