Last week's horrific mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut was the last straw; 20 first grade students died, along with six adults, the gunman's mother, and the gunman, who killed himself. Earlier in the same week a lone gunman tried to shoot up a mall in suburban Portland, Oregon, but was able to kill only two people. Just months ago a young man went to a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, and opened fire, killing 12 and wounding 58. The Newtown tragedy should be an urgent wake-up call to address gun control and mental health services.
Gun control
Far from exploiting the sad events in Newtown, now is exactly the time for President Barack Obama and Congress to pass meaningful gun control legislation. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-California) has pledged to introduce her assault weapons ban in the new year. A previous ban that she authored was on the books for 10 years, until it expired in 2004 when Congress couldn't muster the votes to renew it. While the law had many loopholes, some experts believe that it did cut down on mass shootings in public places, with the exception of Columbine, which occurred in 1999.
Banning assault weapons, in our opinion, would not infringe on the Second Amendment. We are well aware of the right to bear arms and the powerful interests like the National Rifle Association that work feverishly on bills to increase the presence and acceptability of guns in society, like letting people bring loaded guns into bars – nothing like mixing bullets and beer. But there is simply no reason a hunter or other recreational gun enthusiast would need this type of weapon. Shotguns and other pistols that are used to safeguard property wouldn't be affected. We're talking about a semiautomatic rifle that can fire multiple high-velocity rounds, like the Bushmaster AR-15 used by shooter Adam Lanza in Newtown.
In conjunction with an assault weapon ban Congress and the president need to examine regulating ammunition. Perhaps they could start by limiting the number of bullets that can be purchased over a period or requiring background checks to purchase ammunition. How about requiring smaller clips and magazines for the weapons themselves? It was reported that Lanza had hundreds of rounds of ammunition, meaning that had the authorities not shown up when they did, he very likely would have continued his killing spree.
It's interesting that the NRA waited until Tuesday to make a statement, in which it said it is "prepared to offer meaningful contributions to help make sure this never happens again." Politicians who are supporters of gun rights declined to appear on the Sunday talk shows last weekend, probably correctly realizing that there was nothing they could say that would add to the conversation – unless they were going to announce they were changing course on the issue. This week, several politicians who have high ratings from the NRA announced that they were open to discussing gun control – that is a huge step forward in this ongoing debate. Recall that in 2011 when then-Congresswoman Gabby Giffords (D-Arizona) was shot, along with 18 other people, there was zero interest in even raising the issue of gun control among her congressional colleagues. So to hear politicians like West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, a conservative Democrat and gun owner, say that Newtown has "changed me" is remarkable.
Mental health services
The majority of the recent mass shootings were perpetrated by a lone, young male suspect who suddenly "snapped" for no apparent reason. People who are mentally unstable should not have access to guns, yet time and time again we must bear the devastating results because nothing was done after the last killing. Seung-Hui Cho, 23, was the gunman in the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007. Jared Lee Loughner, 24, was the shooter in the 2011 Giffords incident. James Holmes, 25, pulled the trigger in Aurora this summer. Jacob Tyler Roberts, 22, was identified as the gunman in the Portland mall attack last week. And of course, Adam Lanza, 20, committed the Newtown killings.
It is clear that in these cases the gunmen had mental health issues, yet it is very difficult to find appropriate services for people before they commit crimes. The mother of a young son who is mentally ill wrote an interesting essay that has gone viral this week. She wrote that her son's social worker told her that her son would have to be charged with a crime in order to get help. There's something seriously wrong with this country if that is the case. "I don't believe my son belongs in jail," the author, Liza Long, wrote.
Political leaders need to acknowledge the fact that this country's mental health system is broken. We need therapists who can treat young people and social workers who can help them. Providing adequate mental health services is just as important as any meaningful gun control efforts, but more can be done. Perhaps mental health treatment should be a standard part of insurance coverage and social service agencies should be able to hire more specialists to help those who are low income. The courts and jails are overwhelmed with inmates who rotate in and out of the system and aren't receiving adequate treatment. California has been damaged by cuts to social services and the effects of Ronald Reagan's systematic dismantling of the mental health system decades ago.
The time to begin reforming the mental health system is now, not after the next mass shooting. Perhaps it is the time of year, the ages of so many of the Newtown victims, or both, but there has been a collective wave of grief in the nation that is hard to shake, especially as we keep seeing images of tiny coffins at the funerals. It's that grief that must be channeled into positive action.