31 replies to this topic

[Panthro]

http://www.huffingto..._n_2311009.html

I am sharing this story because I am Adam Lanza’s mother. I am Dylan Klebold’s and Eric Harris’s mother. I am James Holmes’s mother. I am Jared Loughner’s mother. I am Seung-Hui Cho’s mother. And these boys—and their mothers—need help. In the wake of another horrific national tragedy, it’s easy to talk about guns. But it’s time to talk about mental illness.

[PhillyB]

[pstall]

So people with mental illness have ZERO acesss to mental health care? You do realize they don't just appear out of thin air? Usually they have family members who know what's going on. They may not know the clinical specifics but its extremely rare someone has issues and immediate family members have no idea.

[Boner Champ]

There is a very fine line for people to report / check their loved ones into mental institutions. Hell, approaching someone who you care about is a very hard thing. Lol, here's a good example, ever try to tell your wife she is being a b*tch during her period?

[pstall]

Exactly. Much easier to have someone committed,even wrongly,then to know what someone will do with a gun. Medical or mental inst are just as predatory for your biz as is a gun shop.
Once again. Not an easy answer here.

[Panthro]

So people with mental illness have ZERO acesss to mental health care? You do realize they don't just appear out of thin air? Usually they have family members who know what's going on. They may not know the clinical specifics but its extremely rare someone has issues and immediate family members have no idea.

so you are saying guns are really the issue

[pstall]

more people, including kids, die from drunk drivers. is it the car?

cars are regulated and taxed and such. its the human. and MILLIONS of drivers are not mentally ill yet make poor choices that kill others every single day.

we just have to stop the circular argument here. im not for totally banning guns. i am for smarter ways of regulation of guns. based on the topic of mental illness and the cartoon, it gives the impression those with mental illnesses have easier access to guns then they do health care.
we would have to have a metric of every single person who has a mental illeness and then look at the times in which they went in for a gun and compare to the times they went in for mental health care.
then we have to find the times they did both and the times they went for just one or the other. kinda impossible right?

[Panthro]

So there's no issue

[pstall]

did i say there was no issue?

[Panthro]

Did you read the article I posted?

[pstall]

i did. a very difficult life the son and mom have had to go through and the connection to those doing mass murders and having mental issues are viable.

[pstall]

and there is a reason i mention drunk driving deaths. there are some lessons to be learned for how or why those have gone DOWN. even though they are still high and one person dying is one too many.

but the # of alcohol related deaths from 1982 to 2008 have been almost cut in half.

two things have improved. the car and it's saftey features for sure but also recognition of drunk drivers, better effective laws/rules. better equipment etc. the other side is not just education but effective ad campaigns. even beer companies do a great job of making the designated driver actually cool compared to when it was first introduced.

you could apply several takeways not only towards better gun laws but also more effectively piecing together the puzzle earlier between those with mental issues and the potential outcome of them getting a gun. the age, the state, commanalities etc.

[Panthro]

So almost 70% of the mass murders were kids described in the article...

[pstall]

right. see my previous post for a possible way of honing in and preventing it.

oddly the same year mother jones uses as a benchmark is the data from the CDC. but the #'s of dd deaths are infintely off the charts compared to 61 mass murders in the same window of time.
however, like i just also posted, there can be some valuable lessons learned to offset or totally cut that # down on mass murders as well.

[Panthro]

Not sure I follow the drunk driving angle