But the reaction to the most recent shooting spree and a few other trends I've noticed have got me a tad nervous, and I want to be sure I'm not the only one noticing these things.
At the time of this writing, it's been a few days since a shooting spree at a grade school in Connecticut. The first news article I saw mentioned that the shooter had a "personality disorder," and I immediately predicted that it would soon come out that the shooter had been in therapy for years, much like the last one (James Holmes, who, if you'll recall, shot up a movie theater in Colorado). Now, we haven't gotten any testimony from his shrink yet, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time.
Ordinarily, incidents like this get a public reaction railing against guns, and how we need more gun control, yada, yada, yada. And there certainly is a contingent doing exactly this right now. To them I have only this to say:
But we are going to talk about mental illness and guns, because these last couple of shootings have laid the groundwork for a movement that would prevent "mentally ill" people from acquiring firearms.
And there is a lot of talk about this--just google it. And on the surface, this is a good idea--after all, if we make it so psychopaths can't get guns, they can't go on shooting sprees, now can they? (And if you believe that, let me point you back to Mr. Wonka.) I mean, I don't want crazy people to have guns. They're crazy.
But the problem is when you start saying that mentally ill people shouldn't have guns. Because you know what? "Mentally ill" covers a heck of a lot of ground, most of which is relatively harmless to others. And mental illness is not necessarily a life long sentence. Some people have one episode, and are perfectly fine for the rest of their lives. Others are able to control their problems with a combination of therapy and meds, and still others just have an iron will. Banning the mentally ill from having guns means that not only people who are legitimately and dangerously batshit insane will be forbidden from having a firearm (which is good), but it will also prevent people with problems like depression, anxiety, OCD, body dysmorphic disorder, anorexia, bulimia, hypochondriosis, pica, trichotillomania, social phobia, and a host of other so called mental disorders. Now, I'm not saying there aren't some mental disorders that don't warrant some caution--some psychotics and schizophrenics can get dangerous (but they aren't necessarily always violent), and someone in the middle of a depressive episode probably should not have a gun, just because they're a danger to themselves. But someone with OCD? They're probably too busy neatly arranging the bullets to kill anyone. Someone with bulimia? Too busy throwing up their dinner. Heck, somebody with social phobia is going to be too afraid to leave their house, much less shoot people.
According the National Institute of Mental Health, around 26% of adult Americans suffer from a mental disorder (mental illness) in a given year.
About a quarter of our population suffer from mental illness.
A quarter. 1 in 4 people.
And, if you follow that link, you can see exactly what most of those people suffer from. Here's a hint: it's depression and anxiety, neither of which prompts people to go on shooting sprees.
Am I saying crazy people should have guns? Of course not. But I am saying that if you are going to even attempt to legislate something like this, you need to be damned careful how you define "mental illness."
Now, on the other end of the spectrum, we have a great hue and cry for better mental healthcare. And I can't support this strongly enough. Having been through the system a couple of rounds, our mental healthcare system is failing most of its patients. It's great if you have a relatively minor problem, or it's an acute issue. But, to be frank, this profession doesn't really know what they're doing. When the shrink gives you that Prozac, it's because it helps most people. Do they know what it does? Absolutely. It affects the serotonin levels in your brain. Do they know why that makes some people less depressed? No freaking clue. It's really only been since the fifties that we stopped just locking up mentally ill people, and actually started trying to fix them. Mental health is in its infancy. What even more disturbing is that most of the "professionals"in the field suffer from a variety of mental disorders themselves (I invite you to explore the psychology section of your bookstore and look at the mental illness memoirs--most of them are written by psychologists). While this theoretically makes it easier for them to relate to their patients, it also adds a pretty heavy element of "the inmates are running the asylum" to the situation. I don't know about you, but I don't really want someone with a mental disorder branding me with one for the rest of my life.
And that's where we really get into it. For years, people with mental illness have been trying to overcome the stigma of being crazy. And there is a stigma. But most of these people can't help it anymore than someone with diabetes or heart disease. We've made such great strides--most of our culture is much more accepting of problems like depression and anxiety, even bipolar. But by branding these insane killers as being mentally ill, we are inadvertently tarring everyone with the same brush. We run the risk of making mentally ill synonymous with murderer.
I'm not saying we shouldn't try to help these people--God knows they need it--but, again, we need to be a damned sight more careful about how we word things.
I'll admit, most of this is just theory at this point. But we are dancing on the edge of a very slippery slope right here. I hope to God I'm wrong, and that we're able to enact laws that will protect our children and our freedoms (I'd like to point out that I'm not even going into the potential conspiracy theories associated with increased gun control).
And I'm sure that by this point some of you are asking, "But, Linda, if we don't enact stricter guns laws and improve our mental health care, how do we stop this from happening again?" And I'll be honest, I'm not entirely sure. I suspect that we'd have to change an awful lot of our current attitudes and habits. We'd have to create a society that doesn't put so much pressure on its people. In short, we pretty much need to overhaul our entire system. But that's not a practical solution--changing our entire society would simply take too much time and energy, not to mention more change than most of us are willing to accept. Honestly, we'll probably experience a full on societal breakdown before it even can happen.
In the meantime? We'll just have to do what we can to prevent it, and show each other compassion and mercy when we can't.
Next time: We will be returning to the bike trails series as soon as possible. I've been kinda sick and not overly mobile, so my information gathering has been stalled. There's one thing I absolutely have to check on the next one, and it'll be kind of exciting, so be sure to tune in!
