Where do we go from here?

I wrote Friday's blog on Thursday, when the Governor of Colorado had made a statement about gun control. I posted it early Friday, having no idea of the events unfolding in Connecticut. Soon after I shared my post on Facebook, the news broke and people began to attack me for making a political statement in the face of tragedy.

As a parent, teacher and human being I can assure you I am not insensitive in the face of tragedy. I, like so many, broke down in tears countless times. I fought the urge to run into my daughters' school and just hold them as tight as possible. I almost threw my phone across the room when I got the update on the death toll. This tragedy strikes us where we are most innocent and vulnerable. To intentionally strike down children is monstrous and we as a society cannot allow ourselves to be complacent. 

I do not know one person who does not have strong feelings about the events in Connecticut. We all want to see anything done to prevent this sort of thing. Many have called for tighter gun regulation. If you read my previous post you will see I agree. Many others have posted variations of, "Gun control has nothing to do with the issue. The only issue is the lack of mental health care in this country." If you remove the first sentence, and replace "the only issue" with "One of the issues," I completely agree.

I do not know much about this situation. It is so hard for me to process and comprehend I am only allowing myself to read a news report every four hours. Also details about the life of the shooter are slow to come in. Hopefully this is to prevent the glorification of him in the media. However, one thing that has come up in several reports is that it appears the gunman has a history of mental health problems. Possibly he has been previously diagnosed with some sort of personality disorder. To anyone with basic reading comprehension, that means he has likely, at some point, received mental healthcare. Also, from my understanding, James Holmes was also receiving mental health care in the weeks preceding his rampage at the Century 16. This means that these men had access to help. And maybe it wasn't enough. And maybe people missed warning signs. Unfortunately I think it is impossible to ignore that they also had access to guns.

The stigma associated with mental health and the care available are both things the country should address. I wish there was a Planned Parenthood style center on every corner where people get the help they need. I am inclined to think this would stem a number of tragedies. It could help prevent everything from drunk driving to domestic violence to tragedies like this. I think we also need a campaign to reduce the associated stigma so that people will get the help they need. 

Lets venture back to Friday's blog where I recommended a good first step in gun control would be some sort of license and regulation. Let's make an annual visit with a mental health care professional part of the plan. If you miss your visit or fail to take any measure prescribed by your professional (more meetings, medications, etc.) then you lose your ability to own firearms.

We, as Americans should know by now that almost no major issues are black and white. If they were we wouldn't have war protests, we wouldn't still be bickering about abortion each election cycle and the talking mouth pundits on cable news would all be out of jobs. We cannot ignore either issue in this fight to regain our country. We need to make societal advances on both fronts to build a healthier America.