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robb65 Did you grow up out west or in Canada? I ask because much of the west has that sensibility. Some rural places here. A gun is ubiquitous and understood to be just as dangerous as it is. But they can be tools weapons of defense against wildlife, a hunting tool.
We have too many guns in too many irresponsible hands, to be sure. But you’re right; there’s a disconnect somewhere. Most of these shooting cases (and believe the stats, school shootings are just the glimmer, not the norm) are issues of mental health and external pressures. We make fun commercials with celebrities about mental health, we talk respectfully and affirmingly upon hearing about a friend’s family trouble with mental health, we hold events and designate special months to it; we have an infinite number of meds to counteract whatever everyone is simply diagnosing for themselves after watching a few TikToks.
Mental health in this country is a punch line and the more we ignore it while at the same time adding more and more pressure to the average citizen, the more incidents like this are going to happen. An incident like this represents no more holding space, no more reserve and no relief. Nothing has to ever get that bad. It’s just that as long as it doesn’t happen to us, it sits on the back burner. We’d much rather argue about who’s dementia is worse.
