If Anti-Gun $$$ was spent on mental health..

[mikechandler]

I am starting to hear the buzz again... and it makes me sick to my stomach. Yet every one of these yoyos, including those who do it with guns, bombs, blades, or their cars, has ONE THING IN COMMON:

They're all mentally ill, every last one of them.

Now imagine if the millions of dollars spent on gun control by the anti-gun lobby was spent on mental health awareness? Imagine if schools began mandatory evaluation of students, just like they do for lice, or scoliosis? Furthermore imagine if this Obama Care that we're going to be stuck with anyway actually made mental health care more affordable, and readily accessible, to parents of children with mental health disabilities?

I admit (with some Catholic guilt) that I am well off; I can afford the care needed by my kids even when my five star insurance falls short. And even at that it is a constant strain on my marriage - but I am always vigilant. I have a child with ADHD and Bi-Polar Disorder (on a side note for those concerned, I keep the guns locked up AND violent video games are banned in our household for exactly that reason - I recognize the combination of factors that cause tragedies). But my daughter is treated by the best of the best, one of the most highly regarded in his field, and it costs a fortune, every penny out of pocket. And support from our school with her issues, even at this level, is dismal at best. My wife and I go to counseling, also out of pocket, to help deal with the constant fallout. All of which is a LOT of money.

But how about those that cannot afford it, or can't get the best help they can? I see them all the time - or hear about them from couples throwing their hands up in desperation, with kids who after school will be thrust on society with serious mental illness problems - and it's painful to know they could be treated, and their illness managed, if their parents had the help they needed. Worst of all there's nothing that identifies these kids, and to add to the dilemma mental illness is seen as a stigma in our society rather than a health problem.

I see the anti-gun lobby spend gazillions of dollars attempting the impossible - to stop violence by focusing on the weapons used instead of the mental health of the people wielding them. They clearly have ulterior motives that having nothing to do with fixing the problem, and preventing more violence.

So here's an idea:

What if we gun owners formed a group that lobbies to educate the public on mental health issues, and moves the focus from the object in the deranged person's hands, to the object between their ears? How about a coalition of doctors, parents, teachers, and other professionals to advise and propose screening, treatment, and long-term management of mental health issues, and even, when disaster strikes, to speak to the public (ala Brady) regarding the real underlying issue?

What do you think?

 

[barnbwt]

They're all mentally ill, every last one of them.

Timothy McVeigh was deemed competent to stand trial, as well as to recieve execution. The shooter in Norway was, likewise, deemed metally competent. You also have the multitude of jihadists (leadership guys, not flunkies), gangsters, and dictators of the world. Evil, sociopathy, possession, whatever you want to call it, there are many otherwise sane people who do terrible things.

Now imagine if the millions of dollars spent on gun control by the anti-gun lobby was spent on mental health awareness? Imagine if schools began mandatory evaluation of students, just like they do for lice, or scoliosis?

That would undoubtedly help a great number of people who may, or may not, go on to be violent, but are nonetheless needing assistance. I, too, wish there was such an outcry; instead, we get anti-bullying campaigns that do nothing to help the kids mentally/emotionally vulnerable to such stress. I have to wonder how many susceptible kids aren't diagnosed because they weren't stresssed out by fellow students early on (stress and confilict are natural parts of life, after all). And when an unstable person does lash out, there is a huge cry to castigate all mentally ill and remove their self determination. Small wonder so many hide their condition from those around themselves.

TCB

 

[JBeechel]

There is a pros and cons argument to this. Many with severe psychiatric disorders have learned how to hide them over the years. Both of my parents have been psych nurses for over 40 years and one has now been a counselor for 30.

The truly crazy are easy enough to recognize. What we have trouble finding is the truly dangerous. The McVeighs, James Holmes, etc. People who are quite methodical and quite capable of hiding their sociopathic tendencies.

I would love to see the money put towards mental health in general yet I am enough of a realist to know that the worst of the people are the hardest to spot.

Then again, like the gun grabbers always say something is better than nothing, right?

 

[Carl N. Brown]

How about intervention on some of these troubled youth before the blood hits the wall?

Natasha Cornett was diagnosed as bipolar, but released from treatment after a week because the family had no insurance and no money. Her life spiralled down after that and she attracted a circle of rejected kids from dysfunctional families like hers. After she and five friends vandalized the Calley Motel in their hometown of Pikeville KY, they stole a car and two handguns from their families and left on a trek to New Orleans. At a rest stop outside Baileyton TN, they car-jacked and massacred the Lillelid family for their van.

Proper treatment for Natasha Cornett's bipolar disorder would have have cost much, much less than the prosecution of the Pikeville Six for the murder of the Lillelid family, or any gun control scheme that would have kept them from stealing two guns from family members before they hit the highway.

Intervention and investment in troubled youth might not have done any good in this case, but non-intevention did not help.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natasha_Cornett
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lillelid_murders

 

[Al Thompson]

Nice thought, but off topic.