Friday, October 2, 2015

Just Another N.R.A. Day

Photo by Beatlesbible
Another shooting and one of the first things I thought when reading about the shooter, was how much he had in common with Adam Lanza and the Sandy Hook shooting. Both of these indivduals had poor social skills and very protective mothers. I don't know for sure if Harper Mercer had Aspbergers, like Lanza, However, Harper Mercer graduated from a school that teaches kids with special needs. Also it seems that Harper Mercers mother was unstable herself, or at least completely stressed out trying to keep her adult child under control. Like Adam Lanza's mother it seems she also knew he had firearms or even helped him get them.
Another thing that I noticed was that an aquaintance of his said he was always moving around and unsetteled, that's a huge red flag. His anxiety must have been quite overwhelming and suggests maybe a co-morbid disorder, could be involved and I wondered if his mother tried to get help for him? If she did it was probably an uphill battle, if you don't have money you may as well forget it.
Then there's the strange Army stint that didn't take and no one knows why. But he's wearing military garb and blousing his pants over his boots, and what is with the IRA and Nazi fetish/obsession? That's scary,
I saw that President Obama got on TV and made a speech and is pissed off that nothings changed, shooting after shooting. He hasn't got the memo that gun laws will not be changed. The best way to counteract mentally ill people doing this is having a national healthcare system that includes mental healthcare for ALL. Obama blew it years ago, with the Obamacare giveaway to the health insurance industry. Every civilized country in the world has decent healthcare for it's people, including mental healthcare plus strict gun control.. Here we can't have either of those things.
What I am getting at is that once people like Adam Lanza or Chris Harper Mercer leave the school system, there's very little in the way of help for them. They are adults who obviously can't function on their own, so it's up to the parents to keep them under lock and key, that is, if they can. If they can get a diagnosis, they may be able to go on disability and then more help could be available, that is a long process. So if  President Obama really cared he could band together his democratic cohorts to craft some legislation or resurrecting Jimmy Carters Mental Health Systems Legislation, the footprint is already there.
The real irony is that Chris Harper Mercer was born in the UK and had he stayed in that country he would probably have received the care he needed, also he wouldn't have had such handy access to guns.
Here in America, you are on your own, but you can get a gun to keep you company.
In another few weeks there will be another shooting and then another, nothing will change, 9,958 people have died from guns this year.



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