People argue over cause/solution, but I think Cenk Uygur(post #17) nailed it with cultural problem. Of course that’s sort of an umbrella over the reasons being argued, but also includes the arguing itself.
Later I read on
Cracked(biased but thought worthy), about Reagan.
Quote:
It all started when he was just the lowly governor of California. In 1967, he signed the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act into law, which made forced institutionalization or medication of people who might be suffering from mental illness significantly more difficult. This followed years of the state moving patients in state-run mental health facilities to group care facilities and boarding houses and such. Or if you'd prefer the elevator pitch version: They kicked the mentally ill out of hospitals and made it harder for them to get back in, should the need ever arise in the future.
~snip~
The statistics regarding mentally ill people in the criminal justice system followed suit, increasing by 50 percent within a year.
~snip~
When Reagan took over as president, that was literally one of the first things he did. Jimmy Carter signed the Mental Health Systems Act in 1980 with the intention of fixing our rapidly failing mental health system. Ronald Reagan repealed it in 1981, opting to give the money to states as block grants that could be spent on whatever the hell they want.
~snip~
One of the first mass shootings I remember hearing about took place in San Ysidro, California in 1984, when a man named James Huberty walked into a McDonald's and opened fire, killing 21 people and injuring 19 more. It was the worst mass shooting committed by a lone perpetrator in the nation's history at the time. Tragically, in the weeks after the massacre, it was revealed that Huberty had called a mental health facility just a day prior and attempted to have himself committed. A receptionist took a message and promised he'd get a call back. That call never came.
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Beyond an opportunity to bash Reagan, which I admit gives me pleasure, it bolsters my own opinion…
Every mass shooter is nuts or they wouldn’t be one. I order to prompt their inner shooter to act, they convince it they have a cause justifying action. Also, they must use a cause currently in vogue, like Islam or LGBT, to persuade the world they are heroes and not just nuts.
That said, the only solution I see is everyone participate in rational discussion of solutions. I give that odds of slim to none.
