[amicus_curiae]

My normal state - over the past two-years - has been a state of manic/psychotic and it has worked well for me.

But news of mass shootings and, particularly, school shootings, depress me. I’m stupid and angry. Over and over and again the cause is always due to the shooter’s ‘mental heath,’ until it’s not because Stephen Paddock had no history of any disorder.

I own guns (and am out of my mind) but I keep them for my safety and would never use one to harm myself or to make an unwarranted attack upon others.

This kind of crap really messes with me, though. I was institutionalised when Columbine occurred and I felt responsible. I am so very sad. I don’t believe that our founders could have conceived of assault rifles when they wrote ‘arms.’

Not trying to be political. I’m depressed and I don’t think well in these states.

[Tucson]

I also collect firearms even though I cannot afford to do this anymore
right now. I also never had the thought to harm myself or others. Now as far as the shootings go, it seems that when one child sees it happen elsewhere, in their sick confused mind, they want to do it themselves just because it was OK with the previous child that did the same thing. Their feelings and thoughts have been validated. This is what I think, but I may be wrong.

I do not want to see any of this at all. It does help me feel down.

[LadyShadow]

I was going to add my own thread about this, but I think it would have been upsetting to those already suffering and it would have been too much. I am deeply saddened, like profoundly.

The students were SO damn young, like 14 (most of them), and it hurt me so, so bad.

The teachers were so brave too, that did all they could.

This is just so heartbreaking on so many levels, and honestly, the "sending thoughts and prayers" things is just not cutting it anymore for most people, and their anger about it is justified.

I'm a highschool teacher and everyday I worry about such attacks. It's really a tragedy in our country that school and mass shootings happen the way that they do. It scares and depresses me too. It's almost to the point I'm afraid to even go into work anymore...

[TishaBuv]

I talked about what the drill is for my son’s school, and added telling him to get out a window and run off the campus rather than be a sitting duck. He’s scared a shooter could attack his campus. It’s something we all have to be aware of all the time now. So tragic.

[HALLIEBETH87]

All the local news talked about was
How he was depressed.

[Guiness187055]

Originally Posted by HALLIEBETH87

All the local news talked about was
How he was depressed.

Poor excuse. I am depressed but am not going to go shoot anything up.

[Onward2wards]

Seems like EVERY time someone goes off the deep end and becomes violent lately, the public and political urge to "pay more attention to mental health" sounds to me like "... because you gotta keep an eye on those weirdos." Maybe it's because I often read online comments following news stories, and there's always some toxic stuff in there. I keep suspecting a mental health inquisition with torches and pitchforks as much as any actual helpful dialogue. Stigma IS real, still. It worries me sometimes.

[FallDuskTrain]

Instead of re-examining the system in place, they choose to link it to mental health. And, even if he has some sort of mental health problem, why not examine the events that led up to that?
What about the person's background, family, abuse, etc? socio-economic class? Was he raised in a household below the poverty levels? Did he have enough food in his development years? if not, it might have impacted his mental development hence might have resulted in mental illness in teenage years. This is merely one example.

[tecomsin]

The frequency is a distinctly American phenomenon whereas MI is universal, so it can't be mental illness.

So I wonder why the USA has a problem with these mass shootings at schools and really no other major country does, at least not to an even close degree. Anyway, prayer just isn't going to solve the problem, nor is lighting candles, gathering together and crying, and doing other things that are being done, like nothing.

Other major countries don't have smaller percentages of people with diagnosable mental illnesses. They do have some key things we don't have, and don't have many of some things we have in ludicrous abundance.

The deaths of these children are sad, but obviously not sad enough to spark intelligent changes.

[Nammu]

It's simply too easy to buy assault weapons and ammunition in USA Freedom comes with responsibility and USA teaches entitlement not responsible critical thought

[tecomsin]

The saddest part for me is the utter unwillingness in the US to stop these mass murders from happening.

[~Christina]

I won’t get into the right to bare arms.

The lack of mental health care in this country is appalling.

We also have homeless vets and families by missing 2 weeks of pay and Bam they are homeless.

A loss of life due to lack of funding regardless of the reason should not happen in this county and world in general.

[tecomsin]

Originally Posted by ~Christina

I won’t get into the right to bare arms.

The lack of mental health care in this country is appalling.

We also have homeless vets and families by missing 2 weeks of pay and Bam they are homeless.

A loss of life due to lack of funding regardless of the reason should not happen in this county and world in general.

I don't recall that any of the mass shooters have been homeless.

[emgreen]

Originally Posted by tecomsin

The frequency is a distinctly American phenomenon whereas MI is universal, so it can't be mental illness.

I can't agree more. The problem is primarily something political, so I won't mention it here.

[emgreen]

.....one other sad fact; I'm actually starting to become immune to coverage of all the mass shootings. I remember my response when Columbine happened, but it seems that with each mass shooting, the more "normal" it seems. I avoid watching the news because each time it happens they discuss the same problems & potential solutions, but not a damned thing gets done.

[tecomsin]

This article sums up my views nicely "the mental health scapegoat"
https://newrepublic.com/article/1471...alth-scapegoat

[Tucson]

Originally Posted by tecomsin

The frequency is a distinctly American phenomenon whereas MI is universal, so it can't be mental illness.

Very interesting observation.

[LadyShadow]

You know what, I am not even going to blame guns, I am not even going to blame Trump. Article after article, news story after story, all have the same finger-pointing tactic.

What happened to the possibility that he is just a EVIL, cold-blooded murderer? Why make all the excuses in the world for this guy?

He abused his ex-girlfriend, did horrible things, celebrated violence, and he was expelled for really bad behavior. Why is it so hard to believe he was just mad about that and decided to take revenge on everyone?

Originally Posted by LadyShadow

You know what, I am not even going to blame guns, I am not even going to blame Trump. Article after article, news story after story, all have the same finger-pointing tactic.

What happened to the possibility that he is just a EVIL, cold-blooded murderer? Why make all the excuses in the world for this guy?

He abused his ex-girlfriend, did horrible things, celebrated violence, and he was expelled for really bad behavior. Why is it so hard to believe he was just mad about that and decided to take revenge on everyone?

You may certainly be right. Anyway, the point is that if he came at the kids with a fist, an ax, throwing knives, chainsaw, or anything other than a gun short of a grenade, biological/chemical weapons, large truck, or bomb, he wouldn't have killed so many people no matter what his state of mind was.

[Tucson]

@BirdDancer, I can see your thinking in this. You are in my opinion correct for the most part. Still, I want to know where they got the gun. Perhaps stole it from their parents. I do think anyone that gave them the gun should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Also, if his parents were lax and did not lock up their firearms, they should be prosecuted too. However, I do not think this will entirely solve this problem.

@LadyShadow I agree with you too. When you mentioned they are evil, to me I think them being sociopathic which is one possibility. No sense of values in holding life as a precious gift to them and others. Still, I wonder if there is such a thing as someone being evil without any form of sociopathy. Hmm...I imagine that this is possible.

[Onward2wards]

Most situations like this are divisive, because there are probably multiple contributing factors behind it. If you have ever read the reports of disaster analysis teams or review boards, there tend to be multiple contributing events each from 1% to 50% of the problem (think of industrial disasters, riots, miscarriages of justice, anything). Everybody is raising their one or two valid concerns out of a bigger, full list.

I'm glad to see people getting upset at any kind of tragedy in the public eye. If there is anything, however small, that could be done to improve the world, let's discuss and make things happen, right!? The worst response would be "that's just life, how strange, oh well". That attitude keeps our species ignorant, complacent and passive, imo.

Originally Posted by Tucson

@BirdDancer, I can see your thinking in this. You are in my opinion correct for the most part. Still, I want to know where they got the gun. Perhaps stole it from their parents. I do think anyone that gave them the gun should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Also, if his parents were lax and did not lock up their firearms, they should be prosecuted too. However, I do not think this will entirely solve this problem.

Isn't this guy 19 years old? Was there a legal reason why his parents would have to lock up guns with him around? If not, why on earth would the parents (or anyone else besides the 19 year old) be in any real trouble unless they were co-conspirators. A 19 year old is an adult, not a child. Besides that, they lock up much younger people (actually children). I don't agree with jailing minors, like they do. I believe minors should be handled in a much kinder way than adults. But again, this guy is 19. He's not a minor, even if he acts like one. Am I misunderstanding you? Do you think a 19 year old is a minor?

[Pheasant11]

Originally Posted by emgreen

.....one other sad fact; I'm actually starting to become immune to coverage of all the mass shootings. I remember my response when Columbine happened, but it seems that with each mass shooting, the more "normal" it seems. I avoid watching the news because each time it happens they discuss the same problems & potential solutions, but not a damned thing gets done.

I know it sounds callous but I feel much as you in terms of immunity. I would only agree with most posts that mi gets a *****y and backwards representations in violent situations. I’m sick to death of people immediately claiming the person is “mentally ill,” “messed up in the head”, or just plain “crazy”. Sad our society is so judgmental. Sad so much of the event focuses on the suspect and not the victims or reasonable solutions.