[HALLIEBETH87]

I'm watching CBS and of course this journalist just said that these shootings usually have mental illness involved

[Mountainbard]

That seems to be the default "reason" when something like this happens. It's sad that the media fall back on stereotypes.

[CopperStar]

Well honestly I think they do usually have mental health problems, but I think it combines with something more than that.

My biological father bought firearms just for the sake of the "cool factor" (not for hunting or self-defense) and also wound up making death threats and getting restraining orders against him and his guns taken away.

He had mental health problems, but he was also a very nasty, vindictive person who felt the world owed him and that he had the right to treat people however he wanted without consequences.

In the end his mental health problems made him crazy enough to aggressively act out his nasty beliefs that stemmed from from a cruel and entitled personality. It was like it all combined to form a nightmare of a person.

On the other hand, I've been even more psychotic than my father ever was on multiple occasions, and I went on a mission to save all the homeless people in California, guided by higher powers, of course.

I think we'd be kidding ourselves to think that people who go on suicidal, homicidal rampages against strangers don't have mental health problems, but there is definitely more to it than that.

[*Laurie*]

It breaks my heart to think of all the parents who recently sent their children off to college at Umpqua...only to have their children killed or wounded. I just don't understand how this can keep happening.

[Nammu]

Someone needs to put a news link is here. Not on my computer so I can't. CNN has one. Never mind...this is the bipolar forum not current events.

Me I think more shooters have feelings of inferiority that are a bigger problem than any mental illness. To me there's a huge difference between being mentally ill and being a sick minded individual who would decide to shoot other humans. More of a personality adjustment disorder or a combination of the two that allow them to do such things.

[wiretwister]

I really don't think it will make much difference what the real reason is ... I see the media (and the congress) going after the dxed MI persons ... maybe creating a national database , opening health records ect ... all done in the name of national security ... maybe under homeland security which has no oversight ... I see the stigma becoming criminalized ...

sort of like the nazi's requiring "papers" on jews to move about the country or to buy and sell ... the government needs to "demonize" someone to appear to the public that they are "doing" something....

Obama's tantrum on tv tonight is I believe the start of that slippery slope ... remember you always attack the weak first ... we are already labeled MI so john Q public will have no problem stripping our rights away ....

[Capriciousness]

At the bottom of this post linked here are two links to articles about mental illness and violence. I found them to be interesting and relevant here.

https://bipolarfirst.wordpress.com/2...bipolar-rants/

[HALLIEBETH87]

It was just something that bothered me. Its like putting us all in a box of MI or something...

[Nammu]

Yeah...I was pissed at Obama today when I saw his speech. It was fine except for that , we gotta keep guns out of the hands of those mental ill and sick people....when are they going to get it that access to treatment is the answer! When are they going to understand that persecuting any group just causes more problems?

[Yoda]

Apparently the shooter posted on 4chan last night warning those in the northwest US not to go to school. If you are not familiar with 4chan just know that the site is the hemorrhoid of the internet. Disturbing message appears on 4chan day before mass shooting at Oregon community college | New York's PIX11 / WPIX-TV

[raspberrytorte]

How do they plan on keeping guns out of the hands of the "sick" and "mentally ill"? Are they going to ask everyone who buys a gun to prove they don't have an MI? This type of thing makes me so mad! I can't believe obama said that. Did he really say that?! wtf

If you've got the time this dude completely sums up my thoughts on Americas ongoing gun crisis.

Originally Posted by Supanova

If you've got the time this dude completely sums up my thoughts on Americas ongoing gun crisis.

Video has a been removed.

[cmorales]

It really annoys me when stuff like this happens and the media/authorities automatically proclaim "mental illness" as the reason -- before any information/motive is known. This one seems to be somewhat religiously motivated (at least a little), while the last one was racially motivated. That kid in Santa Barbara, a while back, was a hardcore misogynist.

Evil people kill for any number of reasons: jealousy, anti-Semitism, misogyny, homophobia, Islamophobia, racism, in the name of God/Allah... why is "mental illness" always the go-to "answer" for these horrible acts of violence. We can't go around saying the person who stole your car was likely a person of color. We can't assume the person blowing up abortion clinics is a Christian. People would poo their pants and claim unfair profiling. Why, then, are they allowed to make such claims against us (lump us together with these just plain evil people)?

Maybe we should make a bigger deal about this. Maybe we should get a movement going to scold the media for their (very unprofessional -- both psychologically and journalistically) assumptions. Maybe we should all ... I don't know. It's just something that's always bothered me -- and hearing the president say it annoys me more -- and is getting effing tired. Ya know?

[unlived]

America needs tighter gun laws full stop.

Im in Australia and in 1996 we had a mass shooting that resulted in our government doing a gun buy back and tightening the regulations. We still have gun crime but nowhere near what the US has.

As for MI with guns. I have bipolar and I cant get a gun because the logic really is that I could hurt myself and others. I cant be a police officer or in the army for the same reasons.

If you tighten the gun laws you wont have all these massacres.

[BipolaRNurse]

You can have all the gun control in the world and you won't keep guns out of the hands of criminals. All it does is keep them away from law abiding citizens. And I don't remember checking my Second Amendment rights at the door to my psychiatrist's office. I have firearms and don't believe I should have to get rid of them because I have a MI. They happen to be located at my daughter's house because I almost used one on myself last fall, but I still own them and I'll be damned if the government's going to take them from me. My medical records are NONE of their business.

[~Christina]

Originally Posted by BipolaRNurse

You can have all the gun control in the world and you won't keep guns out of the hands of criminals. All it does is keep them away from law abiding citizens. And I don't remember checking my Second Amendment rights at the door to my psychiatrist's office. I have firearms and don't believe I should have to get rid of them because I have a MI. They happen to be located at my daughter's house because I almost used one on myself last fall, but I still own them and I'll be damned if the government's going to take them from me. My medical records are NONE of their business.

YES THIS ^^^^^^^

I agree with gun control and would never buy a gun or encourage someone with a mental illness to buy one. I have no desire to hurt myself. And I have been that mindset before.

[tamcat]

I find it pathetic that the media is forever going on about that. They should highlight that yes, majority of these cases have links to mental illness, but it is UNMEDICATED INDIVIDUALS - not all of us. And usually there is illegal drugs involved. Valentina, I respect your opinion on guns, but some of us don't really have a choice. We live in South Africa, and as a lesbian couple, my wife and I are two women living alone with our little son. I will fight for the right to own a firearm for self protection. I have bipolar 2

[Capriciousness]

Originally Posted by sidestepper

Yeah...I was pissed at Obama today when I saw his speech. It was fine except for that , we gotta keep guns out of the hands of those mental ill and sick people....when are they going to get it that access to treatment is the answer! When are they going to understand that persecuting any group just causes more problems?

ewwww really? he said "sick people"

yuck

I assume he was still referring to the mentally ill. not cancer patients and people with the flu.

[Nammu]

I do want gun control but not based on MI.

If you have guns or want to get a gun. You need insurance for guns and a licence, like car ownership

If you have guns or want to get a gun.You must take gun safety classes and qualify to shoot at least every six months. Basics like keeping guns away from kids, actively suicidal or homicidal people(ie when someone with MI is in a crisis but not when they are stable, like bipolarNurse said)

I'd like to see semi automatics being banned. If you can't hit your target in 3-5 shots you aught to hang up the gun.

[Shadesofdark]

I am always waiting for the next step in the MI blame game, keeping lists of the MI, public health records, heck, homeland security can do it, they do so well with no fly lists they let terrorists onto airplanes, etc., what could go wrong? Guy goes into a pdoc cause he has a bit of anxiety and boom, he will be banned from guns, schools, and movie theaters....forever. They blame MI because they cant do gun control and need to look like they are doing something. (BTW I don't think new gun laws are the answer).

The thing I think they should address is the way the media treats these people. They call them the 'alleged shooter' instead of murderer. They make them famous by non stop showing their picture and using their name. They show where they lived, what they thought, read their 'manifesto' and interview the neighbors and his second grade teacher. So it becomes a one up for these guys. Now they are actually saying in their manifestos or notes or whatever 'I think the guys that did columbine are heros'. if they would stop treating these guys like movie stars and more like the murdering scumbags they are I think that would go a long way to helping this problem.

The media is just starting to catch on to this and I applaud the sheriff in this case for trying to not let his name out, and for the few news people that have started to not name them and show the victims pictures instead of the murdering scumbags.

[HALLIEBETH87]

Obama is live talking about gun control

[venusss]

Brown = terrorist
black = ganster
white = ill

that seem the key to media to report on violence

[RisuNeko]

I have friends from Roseburg Luckily they're not there now. But still very close to home.