PTSD sufferers aren't *often* violent. Specific sufferers are occasionally violent. I've known a lot (far too many) people with PTSD, and none of them were anymore likely to be violent than anyone else. It's a possible symptom, which many people don't have. People shouldn't have their rights taken away simply because they have a mental health diagnosis which can in some cases cause certain behaviors.
But somehow I'm not surprised that this story is being used as a platform for discrimination against the mentally ill.
Yes and people with paranoid delusions may or may not have delusions that make them dangerous, but is it worth giving them guns to find out? No amount of personal anecdotes changes the symptoms of the illness. Anger and aggression in combat veterans with PTSD isn't a stereotype, it's a problem.
And I'm not suggesting their "rights" be taken away. I'm suggesting that someone suffering from an illness that makes them emotionally volatile needs to be treated and cleared by a doctor instead of taken to a gun range for "therapy."
ETA: PTSD aside, the gunman had been in a psychiatric hospital twice in the past two months, meaning he wasn't legally allowed to own a firearm. I'm assuming there's a loop hole that allows him to use one recreationally at a range? If so, that's definitely a problem.
