This past weekend caused us all to recoil in horror from the events in Newtown, Connecticut. And it didn’t take long after the mass shooting was over and the death toll was tallied that the various political commentators began to attempt to justify their vision for America (or Canada, or wherever they live).
First, others have effectively pointed out that all of the mass killings that have occurred over the last fifteen years or so have occurred in places with moderate to strict gun control laws, and sites that are specifically declared to be “gun-free zones”, like schools, military bases, camps or hospitals. Many, on the left have argued that more gun control would reduce these events, but it seems odd that it hasn’t worked to date. Madmen will find away.
Others, have raised the idea that the increase in violence on television and in video games is driving the increase in mass killings. However, there has been no causative link between such activities. Just as there is no causative evidence that those who actually experience violence in war become mass killers once they are back in civil society.
There has been some, mostly from the right, discussion of mental illness as a cause, and in my mind it clearly is a key to this problem. Many of the mass killers (who did not have other motives, such as the Fort Hood gunman) show a tendency to be bipolar, depressed, or suffering from some other mental illness. All exhibit the behaviours of a sociopath or psychopath, notably the lack of empathy with others.
Now let us look at the history. Many western nations, including Canada and the United States, “closed the asylums” in the 1970s. Many have claimed this was done as a cost-cutting measure – but that doesn’t hold water. The 1970s was not a time when governments in western nations were trying to cut costs – they were just beginning to borrow like madmen themselves. The decision to close the asylums was very much a sociopolitical move.
In the post-war socialism that permeated civilization, moral relativism was ascendant and individualism was frowned upon. We were told not to apply our own “moral views” on others, not to judge the capabilities of others and to be more accepting. When I was in primary school, the children with developmental disabilities, chromosomal anomolies and those that we now all autistic were still segregated from the general school population. But as I grew up, I saw the impact of the “reintegration” of such individuals. Some worked out well – many with Down Syndrome (Trisomy 21) were able to integrate in, and we learned they had something to offer society. However, some others did not integrate as well.
Worse, as we “trained” society to be more accepting, people became less willing to call out those who don’t fit in. If you had a child who exhibited antisocial behaviours, lack of empathy (beyond that of a normal adolescent…), or you came to know someone like that you were expected to “accept” their differences. The rejection of individualism that went along with the moral relativism built on this view that we are all “equal” and that these differences can only benefit society. If we are unwilling to identify differences and made judgements then we are less aware of the risks these people can pose. How does someone who is recognized (by someone) as having a mental illness get a permit for a firearm? Because no one is willing to single them out.
Should we reopen the asylums and lock up anyone who suffers from a mental illness? No. But we should reopen them with a focus on those who are truly disturbed, are dangers to society at large.
And on the topic of gun laws – has anyone noticed that in places where guns are commonly carried by some of the population that such violence doesn’t occur? Perhaps we should train educators and give them access to the firepower necessary to halt a madmen and reduce the damage they can do?
I don’t have the answer. But I don’t trust government not to try to control us further without any recognition that their good intentions often don’t lead to the outcomes they are dreaming about.
Related articles
- Mental Illness and Murder… and stuff (thesynergisticpen.com)
- Recent History Of Escalating Mass Shootings In The US (zerohedge.com)
- CNN Anchor: It Doesn’t Matter That Gun Violence is Down – Katie Pavlich (gds44.wordpress.com)
- Newtown United: Gun Control, Mental Health; ‘Let’s Get It Right Once And For All’ (guardianlv.com)
- “We can’t accept events like this as routine…” (msdrocks.wordpress.com)
7 comments
1 ping
Skip to comment form ↓
old white guy
18 December 2012 at 4:58 (UTC -6) Link to this comment
the move to close asylums was definately a political move. thrown in the word social if you must. today in ontario we pay social workers a very good wage to monitor people, who in the past would be in an asylum. we pay their rent, their food costs, their transportation, their drugs and give them spending money. it is certainly more expensive to have mentally ill people living in the community. in a country that is borrowing money to pay for such a program it just does not make sense.
Nicola Timmerman
18 December 2012 at 5:05 (UTC -6) Link to this comment
The institutions were also closed for the mentally retarded. My severly retarded brother has since floated from one group home to another and there is no continuity of care as group homes open and close fairly often.
He was placed in an institution after my parents realized they couldn’t cope with him at home (he was burned horribly at one point) and also because my parents were in the armed forces and had to move every few years, so there was no continuity of care.
Cynicla Bard
18 December 2012 at 8:45 (UTC -6) Link to this comment
If we correlate the strictness of the gun rules in the US to the crime rate, there appears to be an inverse relationship, which suggests that tightening the rules will result in more problems.
On another note, I saw an interview with Lt. Col. Dave Grossman in the Us military, who is/was the psychology instructor at West Point. His argument was that some modern video games are very similar to the ones used at West Point to teach the soldiers to kill, i.e to make them immune to the horrors of killing.
His book can be had . http://www.amazon.com/Stop-Teaching-Our-Kids-Kill/dp/0609606131
And no, I don’t get a cut of it.
Are video games bigger problem than guns?
Plant guy
18 December 2012 at 9:07 (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Why does this have to be either or situation. I can’t see that mentally disturbed people with access to high capacity weaponry is ever going to be a good idea. Gun sales at gun shows in the U.S. comprise about 40% of total sales yet require no background checks. Simply saying that this is a mental problem and throwing your hands in the air without adressing access to this type of gun is simply a guarantee that we will see it over and over again.
Gerry from GTA
18 December 2012 at 14:01 (UTC -6) Link to this comment
My ex-wife was diagnosed with Bipolar disorder while I was married to her. Apparently she was on meds during our two year courting period and for the first 6 months of our marriage. She was sweet, well behaved, intelligent and held down a very responsible position. Because things were going so well for her and she felt “cured” she went off the meds. It would have helped if I had known she had this illness so it got bizarre over time with unusual behaviour I could not explain. I queried her parents and her siblings and nobody told me that she was ill. I only found out what she had several years later when I had to take her to emergency. By that time her mother convinced her I was the enemy and thus I lost my ability to influence her to taker her meds. The 72 hour rule was not enough time to stabilize her so that she could see what was occurring to her. Thus I could never get her to stabilize.
As the mood cycles occurred more rapidly she became more violent and aggressive. I went thru hell and after a few years trying my best, I gave up. I sought out a divorce. What I found out during the divorce was that her grandmother was institutionalized (her mother’s mother) and that her mother who also appeared to be suffering from the same illness. These I had to learn the hard way and her mother was part of the problem fighting me every inch of the way to seek help for my ex-wife and feeding her crap that the meds was “toxic”.
Biggest most common problem with people having mental illness is that eventually they go off the meds because they feel better. My ех-wife described being on the meds as a life with no highs or no lows — it was monotonous and thus she felt she was not living life at all.
If you look the vast majority of mass shootings in the USA have been due to mentally ill individuals, — Newtown, Virgina Tech, Colorado Movie incident, the shooting of the Congresswoman in New Mexico, etc etc. Very often there are people hiding the mentally ill people because of the stigma associated with it — My ex-mother-in-law went nuts because I took my ex to the emergency room. All she could worry about is what would people think?
The problem is not guns but the people using them. Mental Health care in both Canada & the USA is not very good — to put it frankly piss poor. It was Bob Rae as Premier of Ontario who revamped the Mental Health Act to protect the patient’s rights and saw a flood of mentally ill people living on the street. Treatment must be made mandatory if not at very minimum, supervised.
Cynical Bard
18 December 2012 at 20:07 (UTC -6) Link to this comment
A lot of people like to jump on the bandwagon of needing more regulations around guns, but using the US as the system and comparing the various states, there appears to be a negative correlation between the severity of the regulations and the severity of the crime problem. News reports today say there has been a large increase in the sale of the rifle used at Newtown, with 4000+ applications in Colorado in one day, apparently in anticipation that they will be banned.
On a different note, I saw and interview with Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, psychology instructor at West Point, wit the message that the video games played by kids are the same as those used by the military to teach soldiers to kill, or at lest to make them immune to the horrors of killing. His book:
http://www.amazon.ca/Stop-Teaching-Our-Kids-Kill/dp/0609606131/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1355886360&sr=8-1
Murray the Hun
20 December 2012 at 14:18 (UTC -6) Link to this comment
My local grocery store has an armoured car service pick up its daily receipts. The service consists of a heavily armoured truck with bullet-proff glass and gun ports, and three guards with side arms and bullet-proof vests. I haven’t seen other weapons, but I have been told that there are shotguns in the truck if the guards need more firepower. All this for the purpose of protecting a few thousand dollars that is probably insured against theft anyway.
Yet schools are protected by the wishful thinking of liberal ideology. This despite the fact that schools house our children who are immeasureably precious and irreplaceable.
I would not support turning schools into armed camps, but what harm would it do to discretely armed a few properly trained staff members? It is silly to suggest that we can trust teachers and school staff with our chidren, but not trust them with the tools necessary for the protection of those same children.
County Police Chief Recommends Arming School Personnel (10) | Jack's Newswatch
18 December 2012 at 4:48 (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] On Guns, Society and Mental Illness [...]