Gun control and mental illness in America
Posted By RichC on January 8, 2013
I’ve held off until now before adding a couple thoughts to the discussion on the high profile killings last year which concluded with the December mass murder at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Commenting while emotions were raw was not something that was going to further logical debate … and probably still won’t since from what I can see the focus is still only on gun control.
What we know from the last couple of mass murders is that there are some commonalities. First, the killers are relatively young, male and mentally unstable. Second, they target defenseless victims where the killer is unlikely to encounter resistance … and third, the psychopath used a gun with plenty of ammunition. 
In order to seriously address this threat, it seems sensible to look at all of the above and come up with a more realistic way to prevent mass killings rather than singularly focusing on the weapon used. I currently not detecting much logic from the approach politicians are taking. If stopping the legal sales of a listed number of magazines and weapons classified at “assault rifles” in a nation of 3 million guns being the only “patch,” we aren’t serious about stopping another massacre. Of course the cynic in me suspects anti-gun advocates aren’t really focused on preventing killings, but are really only focused on restricting gun ownership in America?
If we were really serious, wouldn’t it make more sense to at least discuss the approach and treatment for those who are mentally ill or knowingly unstable … or address the stupidity of telling criminals and killers that they won’t face any armed resistance because they are in a “gun free zone.” Let’s get serious America and focus on a solution that has a chance of working.
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