2011 is Here

The year begins with a tragedy. Among other victims, a 9-year-old killed; an elderly man killed as he throws his body over his wife, shielding her from the deadly hail of bullets and a 30-year-old Congressional staffer dead from a gunman shooting randomly into the crowd. These are just three of the six murdered that deadly day. Why am I talking about this when so many people are talking about this as well? Because I do not see the focus that will stop this heinous type of action from occurring again.

Beneath the talk of the role of "vitriol" in politics (which I do not deny exists) - is the undercurrent of one of the main issues that needs to be addressed, and that is the role of mental illness. Hand in glove with this is the ability of people who are clearly psychotic to be able to purchase guns. We may not be able to involuntarily commit people for mental health issues (unless they present a clear danger to themselves and/or others), but we should be able to stop these folks from getting a weapon such as a gun.

Both the Virginia Tech shooter and the Arizona shooter (I refuse to continue to use their names; they are unworthy of being remembered as anything but murderers) had clear mental issues which were observed and reported. Despite this, both people were able to obtain guns. Does this not show a clear problem in our society? I am not attempting to say that people should not be allowed to own guns. Not only is there a gun in the home I live in, but I know many people who exercise their right to bear arms in a responsible way; some collect very interesting guns. The distinguishable variable between those who use guns in a responsible way and those who commit mass murder is obviously psychosis.

Psychosis is not that difficult to detect. As I often state, psychotic people simply do not "share reality" with the rest of humankind. The reality of a psychotic person is nothing like the reality the rest of us "share." For example, a non-psychotic person knowing that the president was on television last night understands that he was in Arizona to honor the victims, the survivors and the heroes. However, a psychotic individual may believe that the president was in Arizona to further his ability to use his mind control; that the president produced the snow storm that hit the east coast; that the president is attempting to control the airwaves using subliminal messages urging the opposite of what he is saying.

The reader of this blog may ask, "And just how do YOU know what a psychotic person thinks?" This is understandable. While I only have Bachelor's of Science in the field of psychology, I have some personal experience with psychotic individuals. When you do not share reality with another person it can truly be an unsettling experience.

Knowing as I do the problems that can occur when psychotic individuals simply live their lives, when you add a weapon that has the potential for mass killings, you are adding gasoline to an already bright fire.

What are we, as a society, going to do about this? Who the heck do we turn to when we see an individual acting in a way that goes way over the line? Do we call the police? The local asylum? The National Association for the Mentally Ill? Perhaps we need to establish some type of triage system so that these mentally ill people are entered into a national registry to ensure that they cannot obtain firearms if they are deemed psychotic/paranoid/schizophrenic - any person who does not "share reality."

These are just the thoughts of one Bad Kitty.

Wishing all my readers (what is there, like one?) a beautiful new year.