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There’s been so much talk about the tragedy in Arizona.
The rhetoric and politicization has been fast and furious.
Unfortunately, or, at least, ironically, the killer doesn’t seem to fit neatly into the slots that would make it easy to blame.
Doesn’t sound like he listened to talk radio, cared about the right or the left or even followed politics much.
It seems pretty clear the guy is mentally ill, probably with paranoid schizophrenia. That means he doesn’t get reality. Rarely, thank God, people with this mental illness get violent.
So when a guy with this really bad mental illness–which by the way is tortuous to have– acts out we all look for meaning.
It just might be that the only meaning in this is that the guy has a mental illness. Him tragically killing people is indeed tragic but in my view it is tragic like a meteor crashing, a tidal wave or an earthquake.
Mental illness doesn’t make sense. It’s very often awful for the person with it and everyone in their lives. Does it make someone evil?
Best we can do is to keep guns out of the hands of people who aren’t in touch with reality. Apparently there are already laws to that effect. Let’s face it, if your mental illness is powerful enough you’ll find ways around those laws no matter how tough they are.
Life rarely makes sense. Most often, it’s just absurd. Sometimes it’s tragic and awful.
from what I’ver read and heard, he clearly singled out the congresswoman. whether it was her politics or because she did not give him an adequate answer in a previous public meeting, I can’t agree that it was like a meteor crashing or a tidal wave. Those are random tragic events. This was not random. I agree that he is mentally ill and most mentally ill people are not violent, so in my opinion, he is a mentally ill person with an axe to grind. The combination of the two probably made him a violent man.
All I have to add on this is that I think we can do a better job with gun control laws. We should never use an excuse such as “if they want to get their hands on guns they’re going to do it regardless” as a reason not to make efforts to ensure the safety of our people. We are a nation obsessed with guns. That is the scariest part.
We have tons of gun control laws already. Laws do not stop law breakers from breaking laws. We have adequate gun control laws. A study of of countries and cities who changed their laws to make it illegal for citizens to own guns showed a jump in crime, not a decrease. If I am going to kill you or rob you, i dont much care about a gun control violation. Short of melting down ALL guns in a country, you can not stop criminals from getting a gun.
In my humble POV…the best answer is to arm your citizens so they can protect themselves. If you outlaw guns that means only the government and criminals will have them. And that is never a good thing.
Well said.