Monday, January 21, 2013

On Guns, Society and Insanity


Guns have been around a long time. What has not been around long is a societal acceptance of bizarre, even psychotic, behavior as normal. We medicate seriously deranged individuals and release them back into society with little or no oversight. It is almost impossible to involuntarily commit even the most deranged person. And while guns have been the most recent weapon of choice, we have had mothers drown their entire young family, religious despots administer poison laced Koolaid to men, women and children and bombs set off by self appointed political groups in the name of peace. In one of the most horrific killings in Dallas history, a young African American man, high on drugs, killed a father of two young children. The young man had a history of mental illness and drug abuse,yet was foisted out on society because of the difficulty of getting him committed. The twist is that the shooter was the son of the current Dallas police chief. Do you not think this man every single night wishes he had had some means to save his son-who died due to being shot by the police-and the young father shielding his children? Our laws work against even the most loving and vigilant of families.

People who want to kill will find a means to do so. What we as a society must demand is that we stop the politically correct idea of "we can't judge" and start putting people who are dangerous into facilities where they cannot harm others or themselves. Even in classrooms now, courtesy of ADA special education laws of least restrictive environment, seriously mentally ill students, some of whom tower over their teachers, can rail and threaten on a daily basis with impunity. Our children deserve better. Teachers deserve better. Our society deserves better. The idea that we must tolerate insanity in public has to end. This attitude has contributed to the rise in homelessness, domestic violence and child abuse along with a list of other crimes. Like it or not, some people cannot live in the real world.

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