Treating the Symptom

I have no intention of being drawn into a debate about gun control in which both sides have valid points and neither considers those raised by the other.  But for a week now, I have been saving an accumulating number of links by hibernating my computer with my browser open, and it's time I either did something with them or gave up.

Links about the shooting at Sandy Hook are not included, by the way.  Everyone is familiar with the news.

In addition to the links, I have one image:

This is one of several like-themed images I have seen over the past couple of days.  And every one of them seems to me to have the same fundamental flaw:  whether out of ignorance or an unspoken belief that she was to blame, every one of them omits the first victim.

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The links I have saved are:

1. China School Knife Attack Injures 22 Children
2. Fatal Knife Attack at China Kindergarten
3. Bath School Disaster
4. I Am Adam Lanza's Mother
5. Psychiatrist Guilty Over Murder by Patient 
6. A Guide to Mass Shootings

The first link is from the same day as the shootings at Sandy Hook.  It is short, but mentions that a number of attacks in China over the past few years are attributed to "the inability of an antiquated hospital system to cope with rising levels of mental illness."

The second link is rather like the first, except that the attacks were fatal and there is more discussion of other attacks.

The third is interesting mainly in that it underscores that trying to stop a determined, deliberately planned attack isn't going to be the same as trying to stop a more spur of the moment one. Changes made, if any, should be made with an awareness of what they can realistically accomplish.

The fourth link is from the blog of a woman with a mentally ill child.  It is the most chilling of the lot.

(I am not sure this link really belongs, but. . .) Fifth, a psychiatrist in France was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter after a mentally ill patient killed a man.  The patient was judged not responsible for his actions.  In all, it is similar to the topic here, unrelated to the subject of this post.

Finally, there is Mother Jones' map of mass shootings in America, which has not been in my list of links long at all.  As far as the Sandy Hook shooting, it states that the criminal obtained his guns illegally and that it is not yet known if he was mentally ill.

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So, what does this all mean?

I think arguing about gun control is treating the symptom, not the problem. This statement is not a position for or against gun control.  Sometimes there is merit to treating a symptom; other times there is not.  But treating a symptom must not be allowed to result in neglect of the problem.


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