ACCESS TO MENTAL HEALTH TREATMENT NOT GUN CONTROL

My definition of gun control I believe is completely different than that of our President or most legislatures... I am pretty sure that what I learned from the academy and from my friends was that gun control meant using two hands, taking a deep breathe and letting it out slowly as you gently squeezed the trigger, only after taking an extra two seconds to ensure your aim!!!!

The truth about gun control is that it only keeps guns out of the hands of law abiding citizens! If you are a criminal you have no regard for the law and therefore will always find a way around the law to gain access to firearms!

The problem with knee jerk reactions to such horrible incidents such as Newtown is that they are REACTIVE and NOT ANALYTICAL.. I.E. they fail to understand and address the real problem.
In this country the issue is not gun control but providing access to mental health clinicians to those who are in need of mental health! Yes, I said it. Guns do not kill people..Nut Cases Kill People!

If our nation would take a different view as to eliminating its stigma over mental health then more people would be inclined to more confidently seek access to getting the mental healthcare they need. Lets all face it we all will share the name of a good dentist, internist, general practioner, dermatologist, or gynocologist with friends family or someone new to town. But let's face it would you tell your friends, family you are seeing a psychiatrist or psychologist? Would you make a recommendation to a friend here is the name of a great psychologist I see? The answer shamefully is NO, because of the stigma associated with the need to be seen or treated BY a mental health care clinician.

I for one truly believe that the answer to our issues of violence in our streets and the use of violence using firearms does not get resolved by the passing of half ass legislation that fails to address the root cause of the violence... usually mental health!

I believe that when you examine the facts regarding Newtown, you will learn that the shooter had a long running history of mental illness, that his own mother recognized his illness and rather than get her son the help he so desperately needed instead took her son the range to teach him how to use a firearm! I ask you all where is the sanity of that? Would any of you give a monkey a loaded gun in a room full of people and be surprised that someone ends up getting hurt or killed? NO!!!!!

Call me over educated but like I said my definition of gun control means taking careful aim, breathe control and using two hands when using a firearm. Solving the problem to preventing future incidents like Newtown, Columbine and any where else violence has and will occur is getting people who need help the access they deserve prior to their hurting others and doing so with out putting a stigma on them! I know none of you brave and loyal veterans would ever judge a fellow veteran for being treated for Post Traumatic Stress Disease. I respectfully ask why should we as a society make people feel the need to avoid help to the point where they break simply because these people are afraid of how we would view them knowing they were getting help before they break?

I leave you with this thought twenty years ago you would have never have seen a commercial for anti-depressants on television, so why is it we laugh at the commercials or silently judge people who may need these drugs? Is it not better these potential ticking time bombs are defused and are treated before someone gets hurt? Let's focus our efforts not on gun control legislation let's focus on directing our legislatures to understand and address the real problem and pass laws to provide easier access for people to get the help they need!