Mental Health Blamed for Shootings

When I flew home to Germany over Christmas I had a layover at JFK. As I was walking through the airport I noticed a large group of people gathered around some TV’s. Nobody was talking, everybody was just staring at the screen. Newton, Connecticut. 20 innocent children slaughtered by a psychopath. What is this world coming to? It is obvious that the government has to do something to prevent such catastrophes from happening.

Richard Raymond, a chairman of the House Committee on Human Services voices his opinion on this issue in a commentary entitled “Texas must increase mental health care investment.” Published in the San Antonio Express on February 15, 2013 Raymond’s article intends to persuade the general public that mental illness is the root that drives people to become killers. Thus he suggests that it is crucial for the Texas government to invest its resources into mental health care.

It is obvious that something needs to happen to control the shootings. Raymond does a great job explaining how important it is for the government to focus on mental health care. In his opinion gun control will not eliminate mass shootings and he believes that an increase in mental health care investment will be much more effective. Now that the “budget is not in the financial bind it was two years ago” it is critical to invest our money to save people from becoming mass murderers. 

All in all, I enjoyed reading Raymond’s opinion on this issue. I would have liked to see some more detailed statistics and numbers on why investing in mental health care will be more efficient than gun control. However, I agree with the author. The second Amendment of the Bill of Rights is “the right to bear arms.” Guns are part of this society and people are not going to give them up. Even if gun possession was limited “mentally ill” people would find a way to get a hold of a gun. Thus it would be more effective for the government to invest its money in treating people with mental illnesses to prevent tragedies like the one in Newton, Connecticut.

No Gun Control in Texas

After several shootings in the United States and most recently the shooting in Connecticut many States are considering gun control. I thought the article on the Texas Insider website  “Gun Control Won’t Even Be Voted On” is definitely worth reading as it shows how gun control is unlikely to happen in Texas in the near future. In this article Cong. Lamar Smith, a member of the Judiciary Committee with jurisdiction over all gun control, explains that people these days are using shootings for “their own political purposes”.  Although the Democrats who are inclined to gun control rule the Senate they are not likely to vote for it right now, especially since Harry Reid, the Senate Majority Leader wants to “protect the re-election prospects of his democratic Senators.” Smith suggests that rather than passing laws for gun control in Texas it would be more effective to increase treatment for mental illnesses. It is shocking that each of the violent killers watched several hours of violent videos each and every day.