A Misguided Focus on Mental Illness

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/18/health/a-misguided-focus-on-mental-illness-in-gun-control-debate.html

by sethbannon • 14 years ago

12 11 14 years ago

nytimes.com

001sky2• 14 years ago

“What the more realistic discussion is, ‘How do we target people with mental illness who use firearms?’ ”

-- This is not misguided. But criminals break laws, by definition.

dromidas2• 14 years ago

I guess I should add this to the list I compiled earlier, but which number?

Possible fallout from Sandy Hook that is far worse than the event:

5) We put metal detectors at all schools, not just the ones that make sense because of racial stereotypes.

4) We create a new branch of government called SchoolLand Security that does nothing but harrass people and make cameos in pop culture entertainment.

3) We force all students to wear GPS trackers and if they are not in the right place before or during school hours we send the new SLS to investigate.

2) We rewrite the constitution and remove the right to bear arms, and a few other inconsequential things like free speech.

1) We create a TSA/Air Warden mix official in each school that has carries the 1 gun allowed in school combined with the authority to cavity search your sons and daughters at their own discretion.

jinushaun• 14 years ago

Wouldn't racial stereotypes put metal detectors in predominantly white middle class schools?

dromidas2• 14 years ago

I don't know. It depends which racial stereotypes you are acknowledging as sarcastically valid in this hypothetical situation.

I can't honestly say I have ever looked up what schools have had more weapon related violence. The small scale incidents never make news cause that wouldn't sell papers, so other people never really bother me about it unlike this particular incident.

randy909• 14 years ago

"If we really want to stop young men like him from becoming mass murderers, and prevent the small amount of violence attributable to mental illness, we should invest our resources in better screening for, and treatment of, psychiatric illness in young people."

Isn't that focusing on mental illness? I thought that was misguided. Misguided title I think.

jack-r-abbit2• 14 years ago

But there is overwhelming epidemiological evidence that the vast majority of people with psychiatric disorders do not commit violent acts.

But... but... but isn't there also overwhelming evidence that the vast majority of people with guns do not commit violent acts? I personally know a handful of people that currently own or have owned one or more guns. Not one of them has ever shot anybody. Ever.

[Edit to remove irrelevant point.]

kevin_morrill• 14 years ago

The whole point is that all of this is extremely uncommon.

To put this in context, there are about 10,000 people killed annually in the U.S. That's 27 people every single day like clockwork, in often more violent and horrific fashion--many of them teenagers and kids. I think the "active shooter" stat is something like ~100 annually.

So if you want to get worked up about something, get worked up about drunk drivers. Or the far more likely cause of your death: heart disease and cancer.

http://www.centurycouncil.org/drunk-driving/drunk-driving-fa...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_causes_of_death_by_rate...

jack-r-abbit2• 14 years ago

Totally agree with you. I kind of think about it like Plane crashes v. Auto crashes. Commercial Plane crashes are very rare but when they do happen 250 people die in one shot. Car crashes happen so much more frequently but each only has a couple deaths. The grand scale of devastation of this one single act, in one single location makes it far more emotional than 1 or 2 deaths every hour 24/7 across the US. And when emotions are running wild... people get all worked up.

naner• 14 years ago

Accessible mental health care for everyone would make society better overall, if not decrease the likelihood of these mass shootings. Yes, people with mental problems are not going on shooting sprees en masse, but whenever someone goes on a shooting spree I think by definition they aren't functioning normally.

dfxm12• 14 years ago

Not everyone who needs mental health care knows they need it, nor might they be willing to seek it, based on how we treat "mental patients" in our society.

I guess what I'm saying is that, you are right, attacks like this are few and far between, and that's good. I'm not sure what we can do, if anything, to make them fewer and further between. At some point, this all becomes security theater, that is doing something simply for the sake of "doing something", regardless of it's actual efficacy. In fact, "mental illness" is becoming a red herring to deflect discussion away from the harder topic of "gun control".

FWIW, I feel as safe sending my kids to school today as I did a month ago (that is, I don't give it a second thought).

001sky2• 14 years ago

Relevant> "Fear of being committed may have caused Connecticut gunman to snap"

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/12/18/fear-being-committed-ma...

A Misguided Focus on Mental Illness

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