GUNS DON'T KILL PEOPLE, MENTALLY ILL PEOPLE DO!

Well of course that is only a very small part of killings with guns in the world. It just gets a whole lot more attention from the media.  A recent killing rampage in California by Elliot Rodger has led to more calls for the involuntary comittment of the mentally ill as Elloit's recent and past behavior suggests that he was mentally ill. This is commented upon in an opinion piece in the June 3, 2014 NY Times by Joe Nocera.  Mr. Nocera does not believe that locking up the mentally ill who are agitated and yet not making specific threats to individuals, and who can function independently, is the answer. Mr. Nocera ends his opinion piece wondering if the focus should be on making it harder for anyone to get guns, not just the mentally ill. 

Well, that idea suffers from being too logical and effective in signifantly reducing gun related deaths. It requires that we as a country take responsibility for the suffering and loss that are insistence on the right to arm ourselves has caused. We are now moving toward defining our right to bear arms to include carrying concealed weapons on college campuses (according to the National Conference of State Legislatures website seven states have laws permitting this). I have blogged before about the problem of access to weapons and all the deaths, including children, related to this. As I've mentioned, "guns don't kill people, but people with guns do!"

Getting back to potentially violent people suffering from mental illnesses, I have two points to make. The first one is that Elliot Rodger's parents reported that Elliot was severely bullied as a child. I have blogged a couple of times about the damage that bullying can do and the deadly reactions that can occur, including suicide and homicide. My second point is that it might be time to take seriously general threats made online and in other settings. It seems prudent and reasonable to consider these threats a crime. This could have led to Elloit getting help.  Finally, people who are bullied will sometimes cope by bullying others. Another reason to work to reduce bullying and provide more help for those who are bullied and even for the bullies!