Questions linger after another mass shooting
Eighteen people recently shot to death by a mentally ill gun owner in Maine. This begs the following questions: When will this country temper its obsession with guns? When will gun advocates realize that if one is mentally ill, one is not eligible to own a gun and that two short ineffective weeks in a mental ward is not going to miraculously cure them so they can go get yet another gun? When will this country recognize mental illness as a biological brain illness? When will mentally ill people stop being swept under the proverbial rug, out of sight, to jails and nursing homes? When will the day come where instead, they are properly diagnosed, tested, treated and followed up with mental therapy, like physical therapy for the affected body part, in this case, the brain?
We see cancer treatment centers popping up everywhere. We see large additions to hospitals, built exclusively for treating various forms of cancer, which is wonderful. When will we see the same wonderful treatment centers erected for the sole purpose of treating mental illness? When will hospitals add on large buildings that approach mental illness medically, including diagnosis, brain testing, treatment and follow up in that same medical hospital setting?
When will the treatment of biological brain illnesses include way more than just "take your meds, go to counseling and see what happens."
I am a Democrat who supports the Second Amendment, but something has to change. I support a person's right to bear arms but something is not right. I have a loved one living with mental illness who took decades to properly diagnose and treat instead of weeks. That is not right.
When will this country make positive changes for both gun ownership and mental illness so that the killings will dramatically decrease? When will our dysfunctional government stop bickering and blaming each other for these problems? When will they put their heads together and simply do their jobs, which we pay them handsomely for? When will we stop enabling the incompetence?
When?
Louis S. Guagenti
Arlington Heights