My Thoughts on the Newtown, CT Tragedy

Here is what I take away from all of this today. There is actually a lot to be learned from this senseless act of violence. Once again we're hearing about how polite the shooter was and how he was shy, quiet, etc. We also heard mental health problems.

First of all, let's not end up with a mental health stigma. Not every person in the world with a mental health problem is going to commit murder and most certainly not every person that's shy is a future murderer. It would be ludicrous to have that assumption.

But with that said, if someone is disturbingly troubled...and you know them...make sure that they are getting the help that they need. There are different types of mental illness and with some types you would have to worry about more if a person was walking around unmedicated or on the wrong medication, particularly if they experience psychosis, hear voices and experience hallucinations and delusions.

Here's the questions I want answered. What the H-E double L was wrong with him? That's the angry, human question. Realistically, though, what was his history? What led up to these acts? What was his dx? Was he untreated? Was he on street drugs? What made him snap? Normal people don't do these things. Someone that knew him missed something!

Something went wrong with his programming in his upbringing in spite of being raised in suburbia. Something went terribly wrong and we as a nation have a right to know what went wrong, because we as a nation are grieving for these children and these adults that were innocent in it all.

If you know someone with mental illness make sure that they're getting the help that they need and do not slip through the cracks of society. And I have one more question too that sadly the mother can not answer for us all. 

Why in the world did his mother have guns in the house if she had a son with mental health problems living there? And how did he have access to them? See...gun laws wouldn't apply to this case, because the mother purchased them. I do think we need new gun laws now, definitely, but sadly that wouldn't have prevented this tragedy.  

I have been against new gun laws only because I think that people have a right to bare arms, but now I think there needs to be new laws, most definitely. Even many gun owners are having a change of heart after this story. Although, like I said, it wouldn't have changed the outcome in this particular case, because the shooter was not the one that purchased the weapons used.  

I think that what this story boils down to is his mental health and the fact that his mother owned guns when she had a young man in her house with mental illness. I'm sure that even if she didn't own guns and he truly wanted to commit this act that he would have found a way. They always do. But it would have made it a lot harder.

And last but not least, of course,  the universal message that we always take away from tragedies like these is that life is short. Hug and kiss your babies every chance you get and tell your loved ones you love them, because you never know if when you say goodbye it will be the last time you will see them...