For those who follow my posts you will note that it has been a few more days than usual for me to write about the terrible events in Connecticut. For most of us our immediate reactions and our current views have changed. Our immediate response included disbelief, disgust and depression. These were mostly children after all. This is a reasonable response. Unfortunately the usual response immediately led to the placement of blame, the first and most obvious focused on gun control. Those in favor of more controls said it's time to change the nation's gun laws. The opposite side rightfully points out that these guns were purchased in a state with very restrictive gun laws and purchased legally. I'm not going to get into this debate. In my mind this was much more of a gun safety issue then a gun law issue but both sides have a rational point of view. I don't think anyone would disagree with the need for all guns to be locked up when not in use. Every day 34 people die in america of gun violence. Rarely are these guns taken from a locked case.
Some have extended the discussion to include other logical restriction or safety issues like renewing the assault gun ban, limitations on gun show exemptions, cooperation between localities, state and federal criminal databases, and the end of the sale of weapons of war and armor piercing ammunition, whose only use is to kill police officers. These are all important and maybe we will have this small window to put most in effect. I tend to doubt the cowards that serve in congress will find consensus, but we can always hope.
Finally, we see mental health issues on the table as well. In this case it is obvious that this shooter had such issues which fell between the cracks sometime after his high school graduation. It's hard to call it a crack when it is more of a canyon, but this canyon grew out of mistakes we , as a country made in the 1960's and 70's, and they have come back to haunt us. Before that time the mentally ill were mistreated inside terrible mental health institutions. It was important to change the abuse taking place in these institutions but the solution was at least as bad as the problem. As institutions were closed we saw the mentally ill become a large part of the prison population as well as a large portion of the homeless population. In 1955 there was one psychiatric bed for every 300 Americans. By 2005 there was one psychiatric bed for every 3,000 Americans. Additionally, mental health was never considered part of health. Until mental health is part of our definition of health the problem will continue to grow.
As anyone who is part of a family knows, each family contains members who need mental health solutions. Very few get what they need. The Surgeon General's best current estimate is that 19% of all American's have some form of mental illness. If that sounds scary, it is because even the term “mental illness” presses some major buttons in our minds. While most are totally functional, it is estimated that 2.3% have work disabilities and up to 15% have functional disabilities due to their mental issues. In 1983 6.4% of inmates were considered severely mentally ill. Today that number is 16% and growing. Now more than three times more seriously mentally ill persons are in jails and prisons than in hospitals. The last time we have seen numbers like this was in the 1840's.
As far as our prison population’s growth, there are now more Americans in jail -- 6 million -- than there were in Stalin's Gulag, reports Fareed Zakaria, in a column called "Incarceration Nation." We have gone from 150 inmates per 100,000 in US population to over 760 inmates per 100,000. (An increase of 500%). In addition, a large reason for this explosive growth includes both the incarceration of both the mentally ill and those convicted of drug offences, both of which we know would be better treated in hospitals, not jails.
I could go on and on quoting both gun control and mental health statistics but we all know that one important difference between the past and the present is that any solution today will require the reduction of costs in one area (like incarcerations) and an increase in others (mainly mental health and drug rehabilitation). We are no longer capable of just throwing money at both. The results have been unacceptable. To change, as a country, we will need to accept a few realities:
1. Gun ownership is here to stay and a part of our american life. I live in upstate New York and almost everyone owns a gun. They use them to hunt, target shoot or just for protection. The left will have to accept this fact. At the same time most gun owners understand that none of these reasons to own firearms explain the sale of weapons of war, armor piercing ammunition or the need for high capacity magazines. We all give up some of our rights for the good of our fellow citizens. We can’t yell fire in a theater and we can have any kind of gun we want anytime we want. That’s life. It may not be fair be we can’t be spoiled children if we care about our children.
2. The war on drugs has FAILED. Period. It’s time to stop putting people in jail for what people have been doing for thousands of years and will most likely continue for the foreseeable future. We would be much better off as a county to keep these people out of our jails and in rehabilitation centers where they might actually get help with their problems (and save a lot more money as hospitals cost a lot less than prisons).
3. We must accept that health includes mental health. You cannot separate the two. You can not be healthy if you are not mentally healthy. We must take the stigma out of this disease. If you need a Xanax to feel less anxiety you should be no more ashamed of that than you would needing 2 Advil to feel less back pain. Mental health should be a right, whether you are a student or soldier, a minor or a senior. We all benefit when those that need mental health solutions get them. No one believes that this also wouldn't save money. (By the way, both mentally ill and or drug addicted inmate costs the system more than “normal inmates”.)
The window is open. It won’t be open very long. If we don’t see the big picture now and let go of our biases and systematic denial of the facts we may never solve our problems. Americans have always been innovators. We have a history of creative problem solving. This is one we can solve. The President has requested that the Vice President report back to the nation by the end of January with solutions. If all of these issues are not part of the solution horrendous acts such as we have seen last week will simply happen again.
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