We owe it to vets

So much news, especially in Florida, for the midterm elections, has pushed back the recent tragedies in Pittsburgh and Thousand Oaks, Calif. In the Thousand Oaks case, the shooter was a war veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Since so few of us are involved in our long-term wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the impact on those who serve gets lost for attention. Reportedly, more than 20 veterans of these wars commit suicide each day. Others suffer from PTSD in varying degrees that negatively impact their lives. We must ask ourselves what is the high personal cost we are asking of those who serve?

The guttural sounds of a father who lost his son have been heard too often. We have to decide how we can address gun violence, through laws such as a ban on assault weapons, background checks on all gun purchases, and limits on magazines to reduce the chances of massive carnage.

We have to address mental-health issues in our country. When a high percentage of those in prison are mentally ill, we have to ask ourselves, can't we do better than this? The answer is a balance of addressing gun violence, re-evaluating how we approach mental health, and not ignoring the negative impact of our wars on those who serve.

Since we've just celebrated Veterans Day, we must do better than nothing. We owe it to the victims, and we owe it to our veterans. Charles Hooper Orlando