What is the bigger problem: The mentally ill, or how easy it is to get guns.

[Fire Walk With Me]

Poll question: What is the bigger problem: The mentally ill, or how easy it is to get guns.

Mental illness is a given in this society, which has almost no understanding of intimacy and honesty. Do we lock "them" all up and demonize them in general, or perhaps simply work to make it more difficult for seemingly anyone to own many, many weapons?

Of course, the issue is not anywhere nearly as absolute as I make it for the purposes of illustration...but I'm worried that "mental illness" might become the next "X, The Unknown" for everyone to fear without understanding, simply to add to our drama addiction.

:shrug:

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

1. WTF WTF

[Fire Walk With Me]

2. "A modest proposal" of sorts.

And you can't have your minute back.

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

7. Shame mental illness has to be juxtaposed against guns...

...I don't think about guns. I think about people who can't get the help they need because their government has eschewed them and, as a result, they've become stigmatized.





...said the man with bipolar disorder

[Fire Walk With Me]

10. I'm bipolar as well. I'm just attempting to use satire to separate the ill and the guns

because I've been seeing too much "HE'S CRAZY" on teh DU, regarding Loughner, and not enough about "Gee, how did he get his weapons?"

I also lament how we treat our weak; it's the measure of any society. Peace.

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

11. Peace friend

:hi:

[Cleita]

3. Control the weaponry of course.

Most people with mental health issues are not violent. Also, there are violent persons out there who are not mentally ill. They are just mean.

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. Of course the other question is where are you

geographically... whether you are from a city, the country, or all that.

What you are also seeing is quite a bit of... cultural difference.

[pacalo]

5. I see three issues: Fairness Doctrine needs to be reinstated, tougher gun laws, & more help for the

mentally ill.

I'm NOT against owning guns.

[XemaSab]

6. I don't think that the mentally ill should be "locked up"

but I do think that expecting people with debilitating mental illnesses such as severe schizophrenia to be self-sufficient is ridiculous.

In San Francisco in the 90's there was a revolving door between psych emergency, the state hospital in Napa, halfway houses, the street, and yes... back to psych emergency.

At the very least there should be long-term "halfway" houses where people could have a place to live, someone to hand out meds, treatment, support services, and just a general structure that allows them to pull it together enough to get a job or just stay off the streets.

[elocs]

8. "Control" the mentally ill? What on earth does that mean?

The mentally ill need help and treatment and I don't see that as "control".

[Fire Walk With Me]

12. It's sarcasm in hopes that "illness" doesn't become demonized and worse, versus many many guns

and how easy they obviously are for everyone to get.

[sharesunited]

9. Crazy is a right. Guns and ammo are not.

[Ghost in the Machine]

13. You must be exercising your right to be crazy then, because the Second Amendment disagrees with you

Can you please point out where, exactly, the Bill of Rights or the Constitution gives you the "right" to be crazy??

Thanks

[saras]

14. Crazy isn't a good concept

The vast majority of 'crazy' has nothing to do with wanting guns, wanting other weapons, wanting to kill, having hostility and violence issues, etc.

Equating the two does a disservice to both groups.

But there is something about those who are filled with hate and rage, yet don't actually act out because of fear, that tends to start screaming "he's crazy" when someone with similar feelings loses control.

As far as I'm concerned, people who bring guns to public places and shoot random strangers, or public figures, aren't crazy, they're haters. They're not like other crazy people except in not following social norms. They are like other haters in that they have similar motivations and thought processes.

While I think we have serious problems with the number of mentally ill and with how we treat them in this country, I think the potential of violence from them is so far down the list as to not be worth concerning ourselves with when there are so many more pressing problems - such as the epidemic of haters passing their attitudes off as legitimate politics.

[Motown_Johnny]

15. there always has been and always will be some percentage of mentally ill persons

in every society



not so for firearms