JLTraveling
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2005
OK, let's talk about it then. First, I have been a VERY loud and outspoken activist for gun control for a very long time now. But I don't believe that gun control will stop every case of homicide or suicide. And I feel like there's a knee jerk reaction on the part of gun control activists to blame EVERY case on the gun.Why is it never time? Sandy Hook was 10 years ago TODAY and nothing has changed because it's never time to speak about the elephant in the room.
Lack of access to firearms didn't stop my dad's best friend from dying by suicide. He hung himself. And access to firearms didn't guarantee my uncle's death. He shot himself in the chest and not only survived but fully recovered--he's still doing fine 40 years later.
On the flip side, mental health care isn't the magic pill that gun rights activists think it is. Many, many people who die by suicide have been in therapy for depression for literally years. They're on medication and they're doing everything right and it seems like the danger has passed, and then one day it all catches up with them again. Jamie Raskin's son is a good example of that, from what I understand.
And here's an example that proves both sides right and both sides wrong simultaneously:
I worked in a residential mental health facility where someone died by suicide WHILE in the mental health facility. It's extraordinarily rare, but it does occasionally happen. The people who provide mental health services are only human. We do the best we can, but we can't save everyone. Lack of access to firearms didn't prevent this person's death, and neither did mental health care.
I guess what I'm saying is that we DO need sensible gun reforms. But we also need to not fall into a knee jerk response that suggests that nobody would ever die violently if there were no guns. It's just not true, and it makes gun control activists look incredibly naive.
BUT, the other side also needs to not fall into a knee jerk response that suggests that mental health care is the solution to all of our problems, and that firearms don't play a role in far too many tragedies.
I don't think there's really a role for this argument in THIS specific circumstance because I think the firearm was immaterial. This was a man who executed a well thought out suicide plan. He left the house and went to a hotel. He left his car behind so his wife wouldn't have to deal with retrieving it. And he did what he went to the hotel to do. He happened to do it with a gun, but he could have done it in many different ways. Once someone is that far along the suicide path, they're going to go through with it, unfortunately, barring someone bursting into the room and physically restraining them. And as I mentioned above, mental health is not the total answer, because plenty of people have gone through with it WHILE receiving mental health care.