NRA's LaPierre calls for more armed personnel after Navy Yard shooting

[HereSince1628]

39. It's not at all clear to me that is true. Money is needed, it would feel like something done but

I'm not sure that's the real heart of what appear to be attempted suicides with a statement made by mass killing.

Of last years mass-murders, about half of the perps had access to really very good mental health care. Some folks have even blamed that care for the shooting rampages (Newtown school shooter's alleged history of SSRI prescriptions).

The Navy Yard shooter had access to VA mental health...he was already on a VA disability and received urgent care in the weeks prior to the shooting. The urgent care just didn't "get it". There are literally hundreds of web postings of family members who recognize a connection between psychosis and insomnia. Urgent care shifts don't always include available folks with psychiatric specialites (although the VA DOES), worse, many MDs don't see psychiatric conditions as valid medical conditions...so their consideration goese elsewhere. The shooter didn't sleep...they gave him sleeping medication, there isn't any evidence he got a psychiatric evaluation.

In general, PEOPLE FEAR PSYCHIATRIC DIAGNOSES. People with such diagnoses are showered with stigma and discrimination. So, 4/5's (that's 80%) of people with psychiatric symptoms NEVER SEEK TREATMENT REGARDLESS OF ACCESS.

Curiously, even when treatment is sought, mass murders (such as the Aurora killer and the shooter in Tucson seem to slip through the cracks.

What good is access if 1) people don't seek help and 2) the folks that provide help have trouble with identifying dangerous people?

The option of just locking up everyone with a mental condition would put about 20% of the US population in institutions. The cost of that is impossible to meet.