‘Mental health’ dodge
Re “Shooter showed troubling signs before attack,” May 26
The only thing more predictable than these horrific mass shootings is the now-standard response by the GOP that the problem isn’t guns, it’s “mental health issues.”
The problem is that by legal standards, it’s usually not a mental health issue. Most of the time, the mass killers convicted of these crimes end up in prison for life or on death row, not in mental institutions. Under our justice system, if you have the mental capacity to plan and execute a capital crime, you are by definition typically considered sane enough to be subject to the full weight and criminal punishment afforded by law.
The mass shootings committed due to racial hatred or by disaffected, self-absorbed young men are usually well-planned acts of evil, not unhinged acts of impulsive psychosis.
Despite this, Republicans say the problem lies solely with mental illness, and that the incredibly easy access to guns is not to blame. It has been said that the definition of insanity is repeating the same process or behavior and expecting a different result. By that definition, perhaps insanity is a component of the endless, hellish cycle of our mass shootings — just not in the way we think.
Matthew Singerman Newbury Park
While certain restrictions on guns are called for, keep in mind that Dylann Roof killed nine innocent members of the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., in 2015 with one Glock pistol, hardly an assault rifle.
Some of the schools in Santa Barbara County engage a nonprofit to check on the mental health status of schoolchildren. The point is to identify and treat problems at an early age.
We shouldn’t just say that a student is weird and leave it at that. We should find out what is going on with that student and offer them services. Their families need to be included in the process.
Seriously mentally ill people need to be helped as soon as possible.
Nathan Post Santa Barbara
Mental illness is not a uniquely American concern. Any nation with a large enough population is going to have individuals with mental health problems, yet the United States is the only wealthy nation where mass shootings occur on a regular basis.
Logic would indicate that laws restricting the acquisition of guns would be a useful deterrent to the mass slaughters we see way too often. The mental health issue, therefore, seems to be just a “red herring” used by those who do not want to face up to the actual issue. Larry Little
Fullerton
Babies are dying because a small fraction of our populace insists on minimal gun regulations. While “guns don’t kill, people do” may be true, people without guns cannot kill so effectively.
If you’re benefiting from spending by the National Rifle Assn., then your source just went through a failed bankruptcy. So what’s your reason for keeping assault weapons available? Betsy Martin
Rothstein Long Beach