Green hypocrisy

Before Al Gore lectures President Donald Trump on clean energy and how important it is to conserve it, he ought to practice what he preaches (” ‘Extremely optimistic’ Gore sees hope in renewable energy industry,” Saturday Review-journal). How about ditching the private airplane rides? How about living in an average home instead of a huge mansion, Mr. Gore? bolt guns were used in mass shootings, perhaps the most notable was the so-called Texas Tower Massacre that occurred on Aug. 1, 1966. In what may be the first documented mass killing spree in modern U.S. history, Charles Whitman spent 96 minutes randomly targeting innocent passers-by. In what is eerily similar to the recent tragic event here in Las Vegas, Whitman used a Remington 700 bolt-action hunting rifle to kill 17 people and wound 31 more. Among the other weapons he had in possession on the 28th floor of the University of Texas tower that he used for his killing platform was a Smith & Wesson model 19 revolver.

By the time the investigation was completed, the root cause was easily determined. The shooter, Whitman, suffered from profound mental illness, a malady that went unchecked despite the medical and psychiatric help that he sought prior to this horrific event.

It has become the most tired refrain in the seemingly never-ending debate on gun control, but at some point we need to shift our attention from the weapons used in these horrifying events to the perpetrators themselves. We don’t have a gun problem in our nation. We have a mental illness problem.