Regardless of the gun issue, there’s a glaring issue that seems more obvious to me: mental health. The solution seems to be a much better mental health system and safety net. If we got rid of all the guns in the world, psychopaths would make pipe bombs, etc. Getting rid of guns would help, no doubt. It would add friction to the process of pulling off massacres. But the real, root problem seems to me that we have completely gutted our mental healthcare system.
Gah! I can’t edit my comment, but evidently, this “mental health” thing is a Republican talking point. Let’s see if they put their money where their mouth is. (I doubt it.)
Mental health is a talking point, but it's a really good one. The U.S. dismantled their mental health systems in the 80s. It was well justified at the time as there were a number of human rights issues around torture and indefinite detention. Now the pendulum has swung too far the other way and problematic individuals are essentially impossible to hold anywhere. There is a definite need to have facilities that can hold people for potentially prolonged periods, but aren't prisons.
I don't know about you but I don't particularly care if my opinions happens to be talking points for one side or the other. This seems like a very [misguided] partisan concern.
The concern is that it's usually used as a deflection: "You shouldn't take our guns away because it's actually because of mental health" but then they take no steps to improve people's mental health.
