it's begining to look

like young males in this country all need to be psychiatrically evaluated by the age of 15 because there have been waaay too many late teens-20something males picking up assault rifles and mowing down crowds of innocent people. Then it is discovered that they've had mental health issues which have gone unaddressed/undiagnosed for years. That, more than likely, is due to the abysmal state of mental health services in this country, the stigma that is still attached to mental health, that insurance companies only throw crumbs of coverage at it and the prevailing religious notion that all they needed to do was pray to god and their problems would magically go away, and the church of scientology working hard to circumvent effective intervention for people with mental illness (google that).

Too many parents have tried reaching out for help and have had their hands slapped away by the insurance companies, the state (we can't do anything unless they harm someone) and by those who have absolutely no training in either medicine or psychiatry (CofS) and are told to have their child "go walk it off", basically, or religion telling them "you're not praying to god hard enough--donate to my church and god will hear your prayers". Meanwhile, that child won't take the medication--or their parents can't afford the out of pocket cost--and they act out under the torment of their condition and the parents are exasperated because they just don't know what to do or where to turn.

When this country finally faces the fact that mental health is just as important a health issue has physical health, then we as a nation might start seeing a decline in these horrible shootings. But it's clear that the death of children isn't enough to turn that tide--we're becoming desensitized slowly but surely to children being gunned down in cold blood. Dead children are not nearly as important as some mentally ill person not having any obstacles placed in his path to obtaining and using a gun.