Not The Answer

We live in a world where mass shootings are becoming common place. Think about that for a second. How sad is that statement?

Our answer to this as a society seems to be let’s arm ourselves. More and more people are buying guns. More and more people are getting their license to carry a concealed weapon. I’ll be honest, that fact makes me nervous.

It shouldn’t be this easy for people to own guns. It shouldn’t be this easy for people to carry guns. There are a lot of people who could carry a gun legally for their entire life and never use it unless they absolutely had too. There are just as many people in my opinion where that wouldn’t be the case.

I’m not opposed to having legislation where it’s legal to carry guns. I want to get that straight for anyone reading this. I do however think it needs to be more difficult and I think there needs to be legislation that prohibits and or makes it extremely difficult for anyone with certain proclivities to have that privilege.

This topic started weighing on me this morning when I woke up and saw the news of a second mass shooting in as many days in Dayton Ohio. I started to look back at some of the bigger ones in recent years and found some similarities.

El Paso- Authorities believe the suspect posted an anti-immigration and racist manifesto online minutes before the shootings.

Dayton- Police found writings in his home where spoke of killing people. Others that knew him said he spoke of killing people in high school after he was bullied.

Thousand Oaks 2018- David Long the shooter in this incident had a history irrational and irate behavior but was never hospitalized. A teacher accused of him of physical assault but was encouraged not to pursue legal action because he was looked at has having the potential to have a promising military career.

Pittsburgh 2018- Robert Bowers the shooter in this incident was linked to anti-Semitic and pro-Nazi groups.

Las Vegas 2017- Steven Paddock the shooter in this incident was a well off 64-year-old man living in a nearby retirement community. He had no history of violent behavior and police have still never been able to identify a motive in this case.

Washington Navy Yard 2014- Aaron Alexis the shooter in this case told authorities he “heard voices.” He also told them he was being controlled by “extremely low electro magnetic waves” and they caused him to kill 13 people.

Those are just six incidents of the countless that have happened over the years. In each of those six incidents I think you can easily say that each one of those perpetrators had mental issues or a tendency toward violent behavior and in some cases both.

I think the government needs to pass legislation where people wanting to own a gun or carry a gun with a license must first pass a mental health evaluation. People who struggle with serious mental health issues do not need to own or carry weapons. There are stories all the time of people who struggle with depression and take their own lives. They could very easily harm someone else when they are in that state of mind. I also think someone who struggles with something like anxiety shouldn’t either. In an extremely tense situation, they may not possess the mental where withal to make the right decision int hat moment leading them to use their weapon possibly.

I don’t say this as a dig at people who struggle with mental health. I’ve wrote many blogs on here talking about my own struggle with depression.

Part of that mental health evaluation when applying for a weapon license should be to hopefully weed out some people who have a tendency towards violence as well. If you’ve ever been arrested for a violent crime I wouldn’t be hurt if it completely disqualified, you from owning or obtaining a license to carry. If you don’t want to go that far then there should be a definitive time frame of say 5-10 years before you could apply.

If you fail the mental health evaluation for any reason, there should be a time frame where you are not allowed to re-apply. During that period, you must go through a program to help you deal with the issues that were diagnosed during your initial evaluation. At that time, you can re-apply once you have passed and a designated physician feels comfortable that you are able to handle the responsibility that comes with a carrying a weapon.

Will doing this completely fix the problem and end mass shootings? No, it won’t. Because people who struggle with these issues will still be able to obtain weapons by illegal means. There will also be the occasional Steven Paddock (Las Vegas) who by all accounts was a “normal” person that could pass through these evaluations.

I do think it would make these incidents less common. It would be much harder for people who struggle with these issues to obtain weapons. It would also cause the Government to do more to help those that struggle with mental health issues which is something that sorely needs to happen.

As a government and as a country we need to take a hard look at the people who are committing these crimes. We need to take a hard look at what’s causing these people to do things like this. We need to address that and start putting things in place to help people. Making it easier for them to legally obtain the right to own and carry guns isn’t the answer.