With Florida ranked 48th in the nation for Mental Healthcare resource funding, we might want to be very greatly concerned about the mix of too many guns to easily obtained, the integrity of background checks, one million concealed weapons permit holders and the woefully inadequate mental healthcare system in our state.
As one with a social work degree who worked as a mental health professional for a number of years on a Florida Assertive Community Treatment (FACT) therapeutic team providing supportive services to 100 persons diagnosed with severe and persistent mental illness, I believe myself to be knowledgeable to write about this subject.
Trust me, there are many competent and dedicated professionals working in our Mental Healthcare system. However, these professionals are often too over-burdened by the number of clients they are tasked to serve plus the rigors and difficulties that the system demands.
Please, don't even get me started on the reams of documents these professionals are mandated to produce for reporting purposes – not to mention, caring for and working with individuals whose assessed behaviors are often self-destructive, bizarre and sometimes violent.
According to Mother Jones magazine, since 1982, 61 mass murders involving firearms have occurred throughout the country. Of these, 43 of the killers were white males, and only one was a woman.
Mother Jones focused on whether the killers obtained their guns legally (most did). But this highly visible sign of mental illness should lead us to consider how many people in the U.S. live in fear that their child or another family member will become the next Dylan Klebold, Eric Harris, Seung-Hui Cho, Jared Loughner James Holmes or Adam Lanza.
Here are the facts, currently 1.1 million individuals diagnosed with mental illness and deemed by the courts to be incompetent to handle their own affairs have been listed in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) as being prohibited from legally purchasing firearms.
However, unless a person has been adjudicated by the court to be “mentally defective” (an offensive term in my opinion) or has been involuntarily committed to a hospital or mental health organization for treatment, legally that person can purchase a firearm and is not prohibited from applying for or receiving a concealed weapons permit.
To further compound the problem, many states are far too lax in their reporting requirements or have differing rules for reporting to the NICS than other states.
To add to this problem, 40% of gun sales happen either at gun shows, which are not required to complete background checks, or through private sales.
Have you looked in the newspaper and read the guns for-sale advertisements lately? While the majority of those who suffer from mental illness show no signs or propensity for violence against others, still, I can't count how many times I laid awake at night worrying about one of our FACT team clients either harming themselves or others.
Also of great concern are individuals who have mental health issues but have never voluntarily sought treatment or been properly diagnosed.
These concerns certainly need to be addressed, not only in Florida, but also in every other state in the union.
Is anyone else besides myself worried about how many of the now one-million concealed weapons holders in Florida have diagnosed or undiagnosed mental health issues?
Unfortunately, with there now being enough guns in America to arm every man, woman and child, having the best mental healthcare system in the world won't stop those with treated or untreated mental health issues from getting access to a gun or guns and harming themselves or peaceful innocent law abiding citizens.
Certainly, there are no easy answers to the on-going issue of gun violence. However, if we don't try to change the current paradigm, then we will be left with families grieving the loss of loved ones to gun violence for many years to come.
We're better than this, aren’t we?
Gwen Thomas
12:07 pm on Friday, December 21, 2012
I applaud the author for writing about the fact that these horrific things happen when guns wind up in the hands of people who are not mentally stable. This is the area we need to regulate. No one in their right mind would use a weapon unreasonably.
David Conkle
9:49 am on Saturday, December 22, 2012
Of course, the majority of those suffering from a mental brain disorder or disease are not prone to harm others, instead they often harm themselves using guns as a means to end their own lives. The shooter, Adam Lanza, was not diagnosed with a mental illness as his diagnosis from Asperger syndrome (AS), also known as Asperger's syndrome or Asperger disorder, is an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) that is characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction, alongside restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests. Statistics show that approximately 10% of our population suffers from symptoms of mental illness and many of these individuals have never been properly diagnosed or have not sought treatment of any kind. Many families of persons who display symptoms of mental illness don't seek help because of our societal stigma in regard to mental illness. We certainly need to find better answers to this problem by better educationing the public in an effort to destigmatize an illness that affects approximately 30-million people in our country. We also need to better fund our mental healthcare system as well as improve the efficacy of that system. Many persons, through no fault of their own, are affilicted with this disease that is just as medically incidious as diabeties, heart disease or cancer. Furthermore though, we also need to solve the problem of much to easy access to weapons that in the wrong hands are so devastatingly destructive and deadly.
Rob
1:53 pm on Tuesday, December 25, 2012
The above is case and point, as to why our forefathers had mandated in the Constitution our right, as Americans to own and bear firearms. I worked in law enforcement for 30 years. I have seen things that would curl your toes. But I also know that predators prey on the weak. If they sense and even playing field, they will seek out another target. Being licensed to carry a concealed weapon provides me with a recourse to deter an aggressive attack on either myself, or in my presence. Maybe all who carry don't feel that way, but I am willing to bet the majority of those who own and carry weapons would step up if the need arose.
Remember also, that in the case of Sandy Hook, the shooter did not own the weapons used in the attack; his mother did. Had she been more prudent and aware of the dangers of unlocked or easily accessible guns, perhaps this tragedy could have been avoided. Gun Safety Training and gunlocks can go a long way to deter accidents. The sad truth is, though, that is if someone is determined to harm others, mentally disabled or otherwise, they often succeed. Until the government can come up with a litmus test to determine ones mental state, disarming law abiding, mentally stable citizens is not the answer.
David Conkle
5:34 am on Wednesday, December 26, 2012
So your basically saying that we should keep the status quo and do little or nothing to prevent further gun violence. Should we keep military style assualtt weapons available for purchase and continue to allow 40% of all gun sales to transacted with no background checks? Suprisingly, with all the gun owners and concealed weapons permit holders, rarely do you read or see where gun violence was actually prevented by one of these private citizens. I've never said we should disarm legel gun owners, however, if we don't try to ameliorate the ongoing problem, then we will continue to have mass murder and mayhem in homes, schools, malls, movie theaters...
Dunedin Observer
9:22 am on Friday, December 28, 2012
As I pointed out in another article, the talk of gun control has created a market so
intense that ammo, magazines, and guns have been flying off the shelves in record numbers. Check the internet for 30 round magazines, AR-15s, even shotguns and things are sold out. Even the local newspaper lists guns for sale from private individuals with no checks, regristrations, or records kept. The more the anti-gun talk, the gun sales will increase. The end result is this will die down and nothing will change . As a society we like guns and buy them by the truckload.
David Conkle
10:15 am on Friday, December 28, 2012
Unfortunately, you're probably correct in your assessment that "this will die down and nothing will change." A sad statement for our society in general and for all those who continue to lose loved ones to gun violence on a daily basis. I don't know all the answers to our many problems, at the very least though we all have to try our best to make our country great once again.