As we try to make sense of another mass shooting in America America
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/12/14/1337221/a-timeline-of-mass-shootings-in-the-us-since-columbine/?mobile=nc
The 2nd Amendment notwithstanding, gun control is
an important issue and should be debated apart and aside from mass murders in
these circumstances, even though they involve the use of weapons as deadly as an
AK-47.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/12/14/nine-facts-about-guns-and-mass-shootings-in-the-united-states/
If we can, just for a moment, focus not on the gun, but on
the shooter. Not the shooter of Sandy Hook , but every shooter who takes extreme action to
kill indiscriminately whether at political gatherings; in the workplace; on a
college campus or, at an elementary school.
In cases like this, we need to hear from Psychiatrists
and/or Psychologists who can give us, as families and communities, the overall
insight that we need in order to recognize the painful, yet obvious signs and
symptoms of our family members and neighbors who are not taking their
medication, or how, if obvious, their behavior is escalating out of control,
even for them as patients.
In cases like these, we need to hear from Law Enforcement,
who are too often placed on the front line, who are expected to act as anything
other than law enforcement officers with someone known or suspected of being in
need of mental health assistance. For
law enforcement officers, and other first responders, it is an unenviable
position when called upon regarding a 103-M (Disturbance-Mental, in Louisiana
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/mass-shootings
In cases like these, we need to hear from our elected
leaders whom we ask to be slow in closing hospitals, clinics and treatment
facilities so that our loved-ones can get the needed help that is required to
ensure that they receive the needed medication, guidance and possible
facility-based treatment necessary to help them rehabilitate.
In cases like these, we need to hear from mental health
professionals. Men and women who are
quite familiar with the circumstances that bring on anything similar to the
behaviors that we have seen nationally.
We need mental health professionals to be out in front of situations
like this for families who have lost not only their perpetrator/patient, but
also for those who are the victims of these unspeakable acts of violence.
As an interjection, we do not need to hear from, although
the media continues to open the door to them, the National Rifle Association,
or more affectionately, the NRA. When we
have 27 people die on an elementary school grounds, we need ministers, police,
community leaders, concerned citizens and we need psychiatrists and
psychologists. The NRA, God bless ‘em,
but we don’t need ‘em at a time when people are loosing their loved-ones
because someone is potentially in need of mental health assistance, even if their
actions involved the use of a gun.
Correct me, if I am wrong.
Last, but not least, we need the support of our
communities. As communities, we need to
cease and desist making those affected by mental illness seem as though they
are pariahs. It is hoped that by
ensuring that we have a revised view of those with mental illness, that those
who knowingly face the trials and tribulations of being mentally ill, will not
have to wonder how they will be treated by the community, and that we will work
harder to make sure that every effort is made to ensure that whatever progress
made by those in need, is encouraged and acknowledged in a constructive and
positive manner.
As a community, we must realize that many of us may have
family members who are experiencing some form of mental illness, perhaps even
ourselves, however slight. We should be
quick to remember that what happens in these so-called isolated areas of the
country do have a common link, and it is not the guns that the media poses as
the problem. The commonality appears to
be the failure of those who carry out these senseless acts of violence, and
there need for mental help. The sooner
we all play a role in opening hospitals, clinics and/or treatment facilities to
help those in these apparent states of behavior, I believe we will see a
tremendous reduction in these seemingly random acts of senseless killings,
whether with guns, knives, or even suicides.
I could be wrong, but only a licensed psychiatrist or psychologist will
know for sure, for which I am not.
In conclusion, it is
my hope that this is the last time we, as a nation, let alone a family, have to
ever face this type of situation again.
We can’t afford to go through the suffering of loosing our loved-ones,
whether young, innocent children or, older adults. Life is important, and we have to stop
responding in the same way, hoping for a different outcome. The choice is up to us. It’s time to take Gun Control off of the
table as a solution to mass murders.
#2014Americahasoptions; #2016Americahasoptions.
If you or someone you know is in need of mental health
assistance, please call your primary care physician. If it is an emergency, call 911.
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