Another day, more senseless tragedy..more CT killings.

[TheCowsCameHome]

http://www.boston.com/news/local/connecticut/2013/02/27/missing-boys-grandmother-found-dead-conn/OW2HfQVGEjopIwUqhz11RO/story.html

When will this ever stop?

[dkf]

1. It will stop when we fix mental illnesses.

Who makes a schizophrenic bi-polar person responsible for picking up their kids anyway?

[HereSince1628]

5. Multiple personality is not equal to schizophrenia or bipolar

this common confusion is discussed here...


http://psychcentral.com/lib/2006/the-differences-between-bipolar-disorder-schizophrenia-and-multiple-personality-disorder/all/1/

"The three mental disorders, only one of which could be referred to as “common” within the population — bipolar disorder (also known as manic-depression), schizophrenia, and multiple personality disorder (also known by its clinical name, dissociative identity disorder). This confusion has largely resulted from the common use of some of these names in popular media, and as short-hand by people referring to someone who is grappling with a mental health issue. The disorders, however, have little in common other than the fact that many who have them are still stigmatized by society."

[dkf]

6. The article says she was bipolar and had multiple personalities.

So she was definitely having problems.

[HereSince1628]

8. I was trying to point out that schizophrenia isn't multiple personalities

nor is schizophrenia the same as bi-polar disorder.

I'm not disputing anything the article reported, and I have no reason to dispute that the murderer did or didn't have "problems". Rather, my interest was in correcting a mistaken equivalence that seems to have been made in the reply.

It's a common misunderstanding...which is why there is an article that discusses the differences between them.

Why would I do that?

Because it's no less important to use language that doesn't make a mish-mash about mental illness as it is to get the definitions about firearms and firearms functions correct.

Not speaking to your reply, but generally the imprecise and sometimes downright incorrect language plagues discussions about mental illness and the contribution mentally ill make to gun violence.

Schizophrenia isn't multiple personalities or bipolar disorder, and each of those illnesses has somewhat different statistical associations with violent behavior in general, criminal violence, and gun homicide and gun suicide.

Consequently, the differences are important as society considers just how to try prevent persons dangerous to themselves or others from possessing firearms.

Knowing which mentally ill those should be and how those mentally ill can be identified are very important parts of being effective in whatever level of increased safety greater focus on mental illness can yield.

Mixing all mentally ill together expands the problem from finding those few potentially high risk 'needles' in a hay stack, to finding them in many acres of generally low risk hay field.

[LuvNewcastle]

10. Thanks for saying this, HereSince 1628.

There's a hell of a lot of confusion about mental illnesses.

[get the red out]

2. That's just horrible!

There are no words. So many guns in this country and so little available treatment for people suffering from mental illness.

[Robb]

3. Another responsible gun owner who broke no laws

... until she did.

[AndyA]

4. All responsible gun owners are responsible gun owners until they aren't

In a split second, they go from responsible to irresponsible.

It's more than just mental health, too. Do you have to be mentally ill to kill someone? Can you not just be angry, or hate people? Perhaps those motives are based on mental health issues, but you can't always tell until it's too late that there's a mental health issue.

The solution isn't to just allow everyone who wants them to have more guns. The better the access to guns, the more likely a gun will be used by someone to kill. Rights are rights, and the right to life trumps the right to bear arms. Guns should be well regulated, as stated. When you can buy from a private entity with no background check, that's not well regulated.

[HereSince1628]

9. Friends don't let friends drink and drive. Likewise family and friends

have to realize they are the people most likely to know (and suffer) when a relative or friend shouldn't be in possession of a weapon.

It borders on impossible for the police or the NICS system to detect a gun owner/buyer/borrower about to commit murder or suicide.

People with intimate knowledge of family and friends are in a much better position to notice a person in crisis.

True, friends and family won't always know. True some people live isolated lives where few could notice signs. But, as a society, we've got to be willing to make the call for help when we notice something truly amiss. Who would say that a single life saved wouldn't be worth such intervention?

I don't mean to second guess family who are already victims, but its from them that we learned about the conjunction of gun ownership and an illness associated with emotional dysfunction.

Crises in life...job loss, economic distress, relationship failures, illness alter people's views on life whether that turns into hopelessness, vengefulness, or irrationality. Intimates and close associates are positioned to notice and set intervention in motion particularly when there is knowledge of the presence of a firearm.

[Peter cotton]

7. It will never stop.

Violence is inherent in human nature.