mental illness and gun control

a few nights ago during the democratic debate, New Mexico governor, Bill Richardson said, “We need more federal and state initiatives on mental illness to ensure those that have mental illness don’t get guns.” last year bill richardson announced his support for “kendra’s law”, helping those with a serious mental illness receive the care they need before their illness drives them to commit a crime. (the key word being care….)

i believe in our constitutional amendments. and the second amendment does not read, A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. unless, that is, you have a mental illness.

i wish the tragedy at virginia tech never happened. but it would not have been prevented if cho was not able to purchase a gun. cho needed help from our mental health care system and they failed him.

our problems lies within our mental health care system. people need to be treated and cared for. and in cho’s case, one day of treatment was not suffice. it’s not about gun control. the mentally ill in our country need treatment. they need to be understood, their illness needs to be understood. doctors need to spend more than 5 minutes diagnosing a mental illness. and if they decide one is mentally ill, do not prescribe the latest, hottest pill pimped by their pharmaceutical rep. take the time and look into the patient’s medical history. think about the side effects of pill A. and pill B. and pill C. and read the studies. unfortunately most of those studies are conducted by the pharmaceutical companies. which brings me to the lovely FDA. abolish the system and start anew. really. it’s pathetic. they are in bed with the pharmaceutical companies.

my swain and i were discussing the FDA the other night and he made the valid statement of, how is the FDA not under more scrutiny in our media and elsewhere? we have tainted pet food. tainted food. the broccoli, the spinach. and of course, the current disaster with the anti psychotic, zyprexa. this drug should be off the market right now. we have other options to treat people. zyprexa is not a good med. not at all. click anti psychotics under my categories and choose from the zyprexa posts to read why.

our media has made this a gun control issue and if our government decides the same and they ask, how do we keep the mentally ill from owning a gun? i ask, where do you draw the line???? bipolar, depression, anxiety disorders? and who decides? based upon what? i do not want my mental health files open to anyone capable of running a background check. and they shouldn’t be. ever.