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Mental Health and Guns in America

Two Conversations We Need to Have

By James HowellPublished 6 years ago 6 min read
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As I write this I am extremely conflicted. I’m conflicted as a human, a parent, and a responsible gun owner. I can’t even begin to imagine what those families in Florida are currently going through and went through today. I have seen news reports, cell phone videos, and watched them with tears in my eyes as a parent. It’s easy to say, “thank god it wasn’t my kid,” but some of these parents don’t have that option. At least 17 dead, and 50+ injured. While information is still coming out, it seems as if the 19-year-old shooter had been expelled for disciplinary reasons, been obsessed with a female classmate, and his social media was described as very disturbing. Some students claimed that his Instagram was very disturbing, as described killing animals for fun. They said if anybody did it, it would be him.

He apparently planned this out. He pulled a fire alarm, had a gas mask, smoke grenades, and what was described as an “AR-15 style rifle.” According to police reports, he did buy this gun himself, in a legal manner. He was living with a friend and his parents at the time. The gun was locked away, but he did have a key to it. People want tougher gun laws in America and I don’t necessarily disagree, but I’m not sure how much farther we can go with these laws. If you buy from any retailer, you go through a background check. To buy a handgun (in NC at least), you have to obtain a permit through the sheriff’s office. He was in a gun-free zone.

So what can we do to prevent these tragedies? Any time anyone is killed senselessly as we saw today, it is a tragedy. This is not a case of self-defense, but seems to be case of cold-blooded murder and revenge against innocent people. What more federal legislation could we put into place to stop these mass killings from happening? I really don’t know. I think we need to better enforce the laws we have in place now, and go from there.

I believe Joe Rogan said it best when he said that “we have mental health problem disguised as a gun problem.” Now please understand that I am not pro NRA. I loathe and detest them as well as the politicians they pay to support them. I just believe that mental illness goes to the wayside and goes unaddressed in a lot of situations. I say that as someone who suffers from bipolar/manic-depressive disorder.

I was originally diagnosed when I was about 18. All they did was give me a questionnaire. Did I feel depressed, was I sad, and was I angry? If someone addicted to pills wanted to get them that would be an easy route. (I am not condoning people trying this, but simply stating a fact.) This is where the difficult part of diagnosing someone with a mental disorder comes in. Sure, the guy who believes he is Napoleon or King George probably has a mental disorder. (Understand that I am not trying to make light of these situations, but just using them as examples.)

Most physicians, at least in my area, won’t touch someone who has a mental illness. I understand that they don’t want people coming in seeking pills, but we need better education of mental illness and what they are and what they entail. I mentioned in an earlier post that I OD’d on Xanax trying to get high to numb the emotional pain that I was going through at the time. When I talked to my NP at the mental health clinic, all she said was “as long as you’re not using it as a coping mechanism.” Wait, what? Didn’t I just say that by describing the situation?

We honestly need better mental healthcare in this country than that. We also have to recognize when we do have a problem ourselves, or someone else needs to see the red flags and say something. I know that’s sometimes easier said than done, but in this case the teachers had sent multiple emails concerning this student and his mental mindset. Yet sadly, nothing was done. The student didn’t reach out, nor did the teachers. I’m not necessarily blaming the teachers, but from my understanding, the warning signs were there.

There is stigma that comes along with mental disorders. Sometimes people automatically assume that you are “crazy” or dangerous. This isn’t always the case, but sometimes people are reluctant to come forward and ask for help because if this stigma. They have a fear of being put in a psych ward, or an insane asylum. Coming from someone who knows, it’s not always easy to admit. We need to open up that dialogue about mental illness without the stigma and better educate ourselves about them.

If you don’t believe me, just go online and read some of the horrid comments that people are posting on social media. They are saying mentally ill people should not be in their schools. They want to treat us like lepers, when we just want to be treated like everyone else.

We know bans don’t work, and private sales will probably never cease. So where do we go from here? How can we stop the senseless violence? How can we stop parents from having to bury their children? In this case, the young man owned the gun for over a year before using it to murder innocent people, so a three day cooling off period would not have prevented this. His background check obviously came back fine, so that wasn’t an issue.

It appears as if he was part of an alt-right nationalist group, although that has yet to be confirmed. The leader of the group said that he had trained with them, yet they never encouraged him to commit this heinous act. If you don’t know about the alt-right, they are the same people who surrounded a group of protesters in Charlottesville, while chanting to African Americans, “You will not replace us,” and carrying torches.

We need to stop the hate, stop the violence, and take action. What action that is, I’m still trying to figure out. The one thing I can tell you is that prayers and condolences will not bring those deceased children back, it will not stop the next mass shooting. We do need action of some kind in order to prevent this from happening again. I can tell you though, it will happen again, and lawmakers will remain silent, especially those whose pockets are filled with the NRA’s blood money. That’s exactly what it is. Since 1999 there has been at least 89 deaths from Columbine on, and each dollar these lobbyists give these politicians is stained with blood of those 89 victims and beyond. If they truly cared, they would quit sending thoughts and prayers, send donations to help bury the deceased, and work together to come up with a better solution.

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About the Creator

James Howell

Father, activist, man in black... He/Him

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