The problem has little to do with guns. It has everything to do with mental health. If I was so inclined to make some "statement" by shooting innocent people I could and there would be no gun law that would stop me. No matter where I've lived in the world, most anything that was illegal could be easily obtained. That includes guns, shot guns, automatic rifles, high capacity magazines, bullets, porn, sex, drugs or marijuana. You don't even have to know the right location, know the right person or have the cash. I grew up in New York City and these "opportunities" to purchase whatever was illegal came to me. And I never sought it out.
We are not allowed to spend a long weekend on the beaches of Cuba or smoke their cigars, but buying a handgun is a simple process. You can buy your bullets at Wal-Mart. Law enforcement in the country has been engaged in a useless "war" on drugs. Their pathetic efforts have led to little or impact on the movement and sale of illegal weapons. They stand and pose for the media with seized bales of marijuana and cocaine behind them in a show and tell game while places like Chicago in 2013 resemble the 1920's. Looks to me like Rome is burning. Meanwhile, the drugs and weapons flow and our jails are filled with young poor uneducated minorities.
The most powerful and technologically advanced military in the history of man can't stop the drug cartels. Our government, elected by and for the people, hasn't got the where with all to prevent a mentally disturbed individual from using his mother's weapons and murdering children in their elementary school classrooms. This is a confused, cowardly, befuddled and dangerous Congress. They alone are culpable for these horrific acts not gun owners. Not one more law for "deeper" background checks or longer waiting periods or banning assault weapons or limiting how many bullets you can shoot at any one time will do anything to stop the murder.
Is not the answer as simple as giving a Luvox to Howard Hughes for his OCD? We have never adequately addressed the need for proper mental health care and education in this country. We brush it under the rug as with so many other important issues we hope somehow magically will disappear or solve itself. Our "representatives" are so good at smoke screens, diversions, double-speak, delays and slight of hand that we don't want to hear them anymore. And that's exactly how they want it - it's how they do business. It's how they mask their ignorance.
"He's a depressed person. It started in high school where he was bullied. He was a loner. He has no friends. He spends lots of time online. Teachers, he claims, apparently hated him. He's never been in trouble though. Love's video games. Tried shooting a real gun once. He cut his thumb in the recoil but it felt good. His uncle collects knives and those long Asian swords. He'd love to carry around one of those all the time. "Voices" started saying things in his head. He "feels" weird. He can't afford those meds someone gave him two years ago. He just wants to be like everyone else."
Is "this person" going to go into the local gun shop in town and fill out the forms for a assault rifle? Are his fingerprints in some database for some reason? Are we going to have a large new Federal administration housed in some massive bureaucratic building like the Pentagon? They'll doing a intensive background check by trained psychological counselors that will talk directly with his teachers? Maybe do a home study? Perhaps this will be the responsibility of our crack Homeland Security Administration - the same folks who search the elderly and disabled children for explosives. Aren't they the ones responsible for the failed attempt to control illegal drugs and firearms in the U.S.?
Perhaps more complicated than that Luvox pill, one former great President dedicated and directed all of us toward to moon. Incomprehensible at the time. Mission accomplished. Long overdue, it is now time for this President to commit this country to stop the insanity of what has never worked and shift our technology, human resources and money toward providing the safety and security that comes from superior mental health. It's time to swallow the pill.
