Random comments heard since the Orlando shooting:

“Mental illness is the problem, not guns.”

“Only someone who is crazy/mentally ill does stuff like that.”

“If we can keep crazy people away from guns, things like this won’t happen.”

Where is the line drawn? I realize many statistics support these statements; a disproportionate number of murderers are diagnosed with mental illness. My thoughts on this are not yet clear, but I decided to write as I think about it, rather than wait ’til I have things all figured out. (Read = never.)

What rankles me here is that these comments imply folks with mental/brain differences are the true, big problem in our country. We are the ones who harm and scare others, who complete mass killings, who ruin other people’s lives. If we could be fixed or eliminated, the implication is that violence would largely cease to exist.

Which comes first, the chicken or the egg? Many, many people in this country harbor heavy hate toward other groups of people. They threaten others, poison their animals, rally others to scare folks, and generally cause so much trouble that the person who is so different and threatening moves away. Who is really dangerous in these situations? How is it a person with mental illness/brain differences may talk to themselves or pull out chunks of hair or start to panic and yell when overwhelmed are the problem? We deal with things differently, yes. Some of us need help and medication to help us track reality enough to function in this world. Some of us have really impulsive actions that are not controllable. Most of us are not killers.

Hatred, fear, and the need for power cause violence. If a ‘regular’ person harms someone else because they are different, it might be a hate crime that causes the killer to be labeled mentally ill. If a ‘regular’ person has very strong opinions on different groups of people, they are called Republicans, Democrats, religious, adhering to local culture, or politicians. I would wager a bet that a bunch of these folks would be labeled mentally ill if they were to be examined and diagnosed. Where is the line between strong feelings accepted by society and strong feelings that scare society because of how they are expressed?

Gun availability is a problem. I don’t advocate taking everyone’s guns. I do think perhaps classes, training, and testing prior to gun ownership might help to identify people who cannot deal with guns safely. It is not just those who have brain differences/mental illness. It is any of the people above who might be recognized as not able to make consistent, reasonable decisions about gun use. It’s true some of us struggle with impulsive actions and should not own a gun. It is also true many people with very strong fear/hatred opinions should not own guns.

Oh, this is not helping to clarify my thoughts as I’d hoped. I will keep working on it. Any thoughtful comments are appreciated.

Those of us with mental differences often do need more help and support than is available in this country. Our brains are different. Sometimes that is very workable; sometimes we need more support and/or medication. We are not, however, the base of all evil and violence in this country.