Sheila Terry (Fine Gael)

I support Senator Cummins's amendment. In the United States, for example, where there have been cases of gunmen killing numerous people, particularly in schools, we usually subsequently discover that these individuals have a psychiatric problem. If there was an awareness of this condition on the part of the authorities, these people would never be in possession of a gun. Anybody can purchase a gun in the United States but we should learn from the experience in that country. Is it possible for a person who has a psychiatric problem and may be in receipt of psychiatric treatment to get a gun licence? This amendment would ensure such persons could not secure such a lethal weapon.