Agree with the above, both of you. In almost every single case, the parents had tried to seek the specialist care their sons needed, and were unable to secure it. It's not a problem with mental health, but with untreated mental health.
The question for me, then, is "why are we talking about gun restriction and/or whether or not to stop letting the mentally ill have guns, since obviously that's not the issue in these mass shootings, once you look at the stats, and start figuring out why these people who sought mental health treatment for these boys before they went off the rails were unable to find the support and medical help they needed?"
The American system of healthcare (non)coverage has everything to do with it.
On the other hand, the issue really stems from the problems of poverty and wealth disparity. The tens of thousands of shootings that we have ignored, in poor neighborhoods, are not related to mental health but to societal detachment and poverty... I would argue that the main issues are the same in both groups. Guns are only the last link in the chain of an impoverished, helpless, angry young man whose teenage brain does not yet fully comprehend the consequences of certain actions, who cannot get the help and support he needs, and who lashes out with whatever is available to him.
Australia managed to take away the easy availability of those guns, which at least stops the last link in the causal chain... but I think in the USA it will take a great deal more to "put the genie back in the bottle", since we have so many guns, per capita, and our streets are flooded with illegal ones thanks in large part to the effects of decades of the Drug War. I suspect we may put in the gun-ban/buyback as a stopgap measure, but I doubt it will really change here until we address how we've treated our "outsider group" neighborhoods for the past 239+ years.
The question for me, then, is "why are we talking about gun restriction and/or whether or not to stop letting the mentally ill have guns, since obviously that's not the issue in these mass shootings, once you look at the stats, and start figuring out why these people who sought mental health treatment for these boys before they went off the rails were unable to find the support and medical help they needed?"
The American system of healthcare (non)coverage has everything to do with it.
On the other hand, the issue really stems from the problems of poverty and wealth disparity. The tens of thousands of shootings that we have ignored, in poor neighborhoods, are not related to mental health but to societal detachment and poverty... I would argue that the main issues are the same in both groups. Guns are only the last link in the chain of an impoverished, helpless, angry young man whose teenage brain does not yet fully comprehend the consequences of certain actions, who cannot get the help and support he needs, and who lashes out with whatever is available to him.
Australia managed to take away the easy availability of those guns, which at least stops the last link in the causal chain... but I think in the USA it will take a great deal more to "put the genie back in the bottle", since we have so many guns, per capita, and our streets are flooded with illegal ones thanks in large part to the effects of decades of the Drug War. I suspect we may put in the gun-ban/buyback as a stopgap measure, but I doubt it will really change here until we address how we've treated our "outsider group" neighborhoods for the past 239+ years.
A Christian told me: if you were saved you cant lose your salvation. you're sealed with the Holy Ghost
I replied: Can I refuse? Because I find the entire concept of vicarious blood sacrifice atonement to be morally abhorrent, the concept of holding flawed creatures permanently accountable for social misbehaviors and thought crimes to be morally abhorrent, and the concept of calling something "free" when it comes with the strings of subjugation and obedience perhaps the most morally abhorrent of all... and that's without even going into the history of justifying genocide, slavery, rape, misogyny, religious intolerance, and suppression of free speech which has been attributed by your own scriptures to your deity. I want a refund. I would burn happily rather than serve the monster you profess to love.
I replied: Can I refuse? Because I find the entire concept of vicarious blood sacrifice atonement to be morally abhorrent, the concept of holding flawed creatures permanently accountable for social misbehaviors and thought crimes to be morally abhorrent, and the concept of calling something "free" when it comes with the strings of subjugation and obedience perhaps the most morally abhorrent of all... and that's without even going into the history of justifying genocide, slavery, rape, misogyny, religious intolerance, and suppression of free speech which has been attributed by your own scriptures to your deity. I want a refund. I would burn happily rather than serve the monster you profess to love.
