Blame everything on mental illness. Blame me personally if you want.

[Robyn66]

41. When I think of someone who is mentally ill and dangerous I think of my uncle

First of all- Full disclosure I am bi-polar. I don't feel I am a danger to myself or others but I have no problem not knowing where the key to the gun safe is. My husband hasn't hid it I just don't care to know. He hunts has one or two hunting rifles and that is it. I don't like guns but that is another story.

I have an uncle who has been in two armed stand offs with police, TWO. THe last one lasted around 40 hours. He lived in the state of NH and like my father he had enough guns to arm a small country which the police took when they took him in to custody. He is very ill. But the state of NH is lousy at caring for the mentally ill. After the dust settled from the first armed stand off, they GAVE HIS GUNS BACK TO HIM because in NH we believe you have a RIGHT to your GUNS!

Now, after the second armed stand off, he was taken in to custody, put in the hospital for a short time and then put in jail for something like 6 months, WAY TO HELP THE MENTALLY ILL!!!

I am not sure if he got his guns back this time but the fact of the matter is you can go in to Walmart and buy a gun off the shelf no matter who you are because they don't do a background check on you.

I think that a PART of the problem is mental health care. Appropriate mental health care is a BIG problem for MANY reasons. My problems include FINDING a psychiatrist for meds that takes my insurance, FINDING a therapist, there is just too much to go in to where the mental health system is lacking. I am bipolar and have PTSD, I had a breakdown and DIDN'T go in to the hospital and probably should have. I have lived with the stigma of having to hide scars or lie about what caused them so I understand that it is a rough subject. But personally I don't feel like people like me are being attacked. I feel that mental illness is not being appropriately diagnosed and treated especially in young people. That being said, it is only one part of the problem. The GUNS are the other part.

The assault weapons have to go. Period. No one NEEDS an assault rifle. The gun lust in this country is sick. I don't care how many mass shootings are committed with assault rifles, one would be enough but it is ever so many more than one mass killing and how often are assault rifles not used? I think that is the real question.

But none of this will improve until we can get the vast majority of Americans to believe in the sanctity of human life over gun lust. THere are talking points and statistics and all kinds of excuses that want to absolve the use of guns to kill people and don't forget the laughable false equivalency between guns and car accidents.

So I don't know the answer but I just would like to suggest to those who share my challenges that it is ok to say untreated mental illness is a problem. It is the shame of this country the poor state of the mental health system and I don't take that as an attack and I hope with all my heart that others can try and not take it as an attack either. We face enough struggles without borrowing more.

Peace