Interesting problem....
I'm very pro gun. I'm going to be buying two rifles (AR-15 and AR-10) and two pistols (two Colt 1911s, a .45 and a .22) and will be training for competitive shooting.... I do believe that the second amendment means what it says (The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed) but we made a really boneheaded move in not requiring background checks, and not implementing waiting periods across the board. When I'm ready to buy the firearms, I won't be opposed to a waiting period. I don't see either a waiting period or background check as any sort of infringement.
Also I think the whole "assault rifle" ban was ridiculous; why is it that if I put a semi-auto lower receiver into a plain-looking rifle it was okay, but if I put it into an AR/AK-style rifle that "looks scary" it is suddenly something which needed to be banned?
The interesting issue this presents is this: should we implement background checks for 3D printers capable of sintering metal, or CNC milling machines? Of course for a machinist who already has access to such a machine, it's simple to replicate a pre-original-ban AR lower receiver which is very easily converted to fully automatic (which should not have been banned since that IS an infringement but that's beside the point at the moment).
The bottom line is this: we need to not coddle psychopaths and sociopaths, we need to not ignore warning signs, but to commit and treat them. Don't let people with serious illnesses suffer and let anger or violent tendencies fester. Treat the actual problem - and if it takes implementing universal health care so they can actually get access to proper mental health treatment, so be it. Health care SHOULD be a universal human right - and yes it is an entitlement - EVERYONE should be entitled to full health care.
Why punish the tool, or act like the tool is the problem? The real problem is society telling everyone FUCK YOU WE DON'T WANT SOCIALIZED MEDICINE then suddenly act surprised when a teenager with serious psychological problems steals his mom's firearms and shoots up a school, or when a mentally ill adult decides to shoot up a workplace. Why are we so shocked when we keep rejecting universal health care, and keep rejecting treating the mentally ill?
At one point, there were shooting leagues in schools, where students brought their firearms in. What school shootings were there? The only shootings at that point were ones carried out by the government, not by The People. The mentally ill were locked away (which IMHO is nearly as bad as not treating them at all which is what we do now - we pretend they don't deserve "free" health care) to protect society. My generation? No school shootings, and yet guys often had rifles in gun racks out in the parking lot. No problems with it.... but now we're scared of our own shadows, and a kindergartener drawing a picture of a gun or playing "cops and robbers" and pointing fingers at each other and saying "bang" results in expulsion.
We have our priorities all wrong, we misplace blame on the tools rather than the evil and/or mentally ill people who carry out the evil acts, and we act all shocked when the people we denied health care end up hurting others.
Sooo do we start instituting background checks for ANYTHING which can be used as a weapon or manufacture a weapon (CNC milling machines, die grinders, billet metal, pressure cookers, knives, plate glass, tubing, anything which is combustible, etc.) or do we fucking wake up and provide free treatment to the mentally ill and start locking them up if necessary?
I say we start treating the mentally ill, and if they are a threat so society keep them locked up and provide competent treatment until they are mentally stable, and stop blaming inanimate objects for society's failings.