Gun control.

A seemingly impossible mess.

As we all know ad nauseum, the Second Amendment defends an American’s right to bear arms. At the time it was written, our forefathers made sure it was at the top of the page on the Bill of Rights.  

The NRA, the voice of gun owners, has bought and paid for the movers and shakers in Washington. It’s safe to say we can count on little if any cooperation from lawmakers. They have little incentive to tighten penalties on weapons. No one is dumb enough to bite the hands that generously and regularly feed them.

Even with stricter penalties in place, it’s a fact that no matter what we do to control guns, they’re still accessible. Background checks have done little to solve the problem. In spite of our protests and noble ideas, it’s clear that challenging our existing laws is a waste of time and resources. They are what they are.

So how should we approach the problem?

My father once said that the policy where he worked was “Don’t bring a complaint to my attention unless you can offer a possible solution for the problem.”

Solution time.

Here’s what I think.

We need to focus on what we CAN control.

We can and must make every effort to medically and emotionally treat the mentally ill, who are often the perpetrators of violence, sometimes wide scale and heinous.

This goal should be one of America’s number one priorities. You want some of the horror to go away? Hear me out.

In no way am I implying that all shooters are mentally ill.

But some clearly are.

Rational people don't shoot up public schools, colleges, movie theatres, military bases and shopping malls. Rational people aren’t snipers, shooting randomly from top of freeway overpasses. Rational people don’t mow down their sleeping families with a hailstorm of bullets and turn the gun on themselves.

Some mentally ill patients vehemently refuse help. They may not know that they’re sick, may not be able to accept that they are. And unless they are a threat to themselves or others which would prompt a mandatory psych hold, they are free to self-destruct without hindrance.

But for those who receive treatment, lives may be saved including their own.

I’m not talking about a half-baked county run program with revolving door of overworked staff, no after-hours crisis management and ineffective combinations of meds because of five minute appointments and a lack of relationship with patients. Our daughter, out of desperation and lack of health coverage was forced into that sort of system. More than once, I was afraid to turn my back on her or leave her for long periods of time. Lack of medication or improperly prescribed medications creates a ticking time bomb. Eventually it will blow.

Many criminals incarcerated today are mentally ill. The statistics run between 40-70%. Prisons are notorious dumping grounds for the mentally ill. Americans have little patience for those commit violent crimes; sick or not.

What we as a country must insist on is treatment with qualified psychiatrists, followed up by effective therapy. Here’s a galling fact.

Nearly all reputable mental health care professionals are unwilling to waive their fees or take a sliding scale fee for the occasional indigent patient. I’ve asked several when trying to obtain someone to help my daughter, and they were aghast; you’d think I suggested exhuming their grandmother’s remains.

Ask one. I guarantee they’ll say no and direct the patient to the county run place where dangerous quack science is the norm, rather than the exception.

So let’s give up squabbling with the NRA, dragging them in and out of court.  We lost that battle long ago. Instead, let’s focus that money toward helping those who society has thrown away. 

Believe me, when it comes to mental illness I know what I'm talking about. I've been surrounded by violent, bipolar people since birth. There’s a strong hereditary strain of mental illness that can be traced back over 100 years in my father’s family. My daughter has suffered tremendously from bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. I’ve seen her when she’s on the wrong meds. I’ve seen her on no meds. I’m fully aware of what she is capable of. Not so long, she scared me to death nearly every day.

Thank God, she’s doing better. She now has the means by way of Social Security disability to afford a wonderful psychiatrist and therapist who are helping her cope with daily life. She still struggles, but she’s able to hold it together far better than she ever did before.

My point: with the right cocktail of meds and counseling, quality of life can improve for the mentally ill.  

Those meds can make them less likely to listen to voices in their heads and pick up a gun.

We’ve all heard it said that we can pick and choose our battles.

This is a battle we dare not continue to ignore.