Meanwhile elsewhere in San Diego, gun deaths continue… http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2015/nov/04/officer-involved-shooting-pacific-beach/
It’s so much easier to blame a particular implement of violence (most folks blame the guns) than to treat the root cause - mental illness! Why do the expensive/hard work of setting up a widely available community mental health network when we can just point the finger at guns?
And please don’t unload that bullshit line of “if there weren’t guns the damage would be less” on me. If there was quality mental health counseling available to all, the damage could be zero! Let’s not be satisfied with lingering casualties just because we are too intellectually lazy to see the disease behind the symptom.
But… it’s demonstrably true.
Oh and nice stigmatisation of people with mental illness too there champ.
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Except that only a small percentage of mass shootings are carried out by people with mental illness, the mentally ill are more likely to be victims of violence than perpetrators, the perception that mass shootings are the result of mental illness adds more stigma to an already huge burden for the mentally ill, and this whole line is trotted out by NRA apologists every time there is a mass shooting, in a deliberate attempt to diffuse attention.
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I’m pretty sure the root cause isn’t “mental illness” unless you think all violence is the result of mental illness. Not everyone who kills someone (or a group of someone’s) with a gun is insane. They’re often just angry and not thinking it through.
The guy who shoots his wife because she mouths off isn’t going to be sent to a mental health facility if he pleads “insanity.” Willingness to harm other humans is not considered a form of insanity in our culture.
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- We can do better than less damage. Our aim shouldn’t be a kludgy patch - it should be fixing the root cause.
- I don’t want to stigmatize the mentally ill, I want to give them free treatment.
These threads always go to the Fudge Room.
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=/=
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So wait - no one died in either instance (well the stabby guy did). The rifle guy didn’t even shoot anyone as far as I can tell. So should we down grade this from “Two rampage killer attacks” to something more accurate description wise? Or do we want to keep the populace still fearful and distracted?
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Every time a mass shooting happens, anti-gun folks use guns as an excuse to turn attention away from the need for community based mental health care. Why do anti-gun folks hate the idea of affordable mental health care?
I’m being facetious of course, but really, why can’t we treat the root cause of mass violence and have gun control? Why do people react so poorly to the idea of more mental health treatment for those in need?
You are kind of ignoring everything in my post except the last phrase. If you accept everything else in my post, well there’s your answer to your question. If you don’t accept it, why not?
I think that was his point. Black people in the UK aren’t African British or something, they are just British…
Like Mister44 said, now with the influx of immigrants you are starting to see the “us” vs. “them” mentality that the US experiences a lot more of.
Pointing out a problem isn’t the same as stigmatizing.
Let’s suppose bus drivers with untreated high blood pressure were having strokes and causing crashes that injured their passengers. Would pointing out that bus drivers with high blood pressure need treatment be considered stigmatizing those with high blood pressure?
Who reacts this way? Please be specific.
Besides, let’s treat the mentally ill and have gun control like rational countries do.
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Isn’t violence an untreated mental illness? How could you be sane and think that murdering someone (whether with a gun, a knife, or a wiffle bat for that matter) is a healthy reaction? Inability to control your anger and “think things through” indicates an anger disorder (at the very least) and certainly calls for some counseling. Taking away that angry man’s gun/knife/wiffle bat isn’t going to keep his anger from getting out of control - only treatment can do that.
Far too many gun control advocates believe, as robulus states, that “this whole line is trotted out by NRA apologists every time there is a mass shooting, in a deliberate attempt to diffuse attention.” They turn it into an either/or proposition. I am in favor of both, though no one speaks up for mental health treatment, so I do that part and leave the rest to everyone else.
Taking away the angry man’s gun will reduce his ability to shoot someone.
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So, you’re saying that we should pay for mental health care with an added tax on guns? Because I see a lot of pro-gun people say we should treat mental illness and then talk about how we don’t have any money for it or many other reasons about how it’s impractical.
So, who’s putting the bell on the cat?
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