Another senseless shooting.
Another necessary look into the person behind such a cowardice act.
Another moment for the media, my media, to miss the point.
My heart aches every time we hear of yet another atrocity carried out by an individual clearly in need of mental assistance. The mental health system failed him, that doesn't mean I take the blame off the perpetrator's shoulders. The young man who took the lives of innocents and hurt others at and around UCSB knew what he was doing but he also set off plenty of flashing red lights that could have stopped this from happening. Yes, we are looking into his mental state, we know that he had been in therapy since he was a young boy but why are we giving airtime to his manifesto. Why do we read excerpts and continue to play portions of his final you tube video.
You can tell the story of what this young man did and why he could have been stopped without giving him the very publicity he whole-heartedly sought after.
The focus needs to be on why he wasn't being paid closer attention to? How serious did the police take the warning when his mother called and asked that they look in on her son? What did she say to them? Did she direct them to his videos that led her to make the call in first place? How does someone leave a trail like his, not at all hidden and complete his awful mission? How does someone with mental health issues gain legal access to a gun.
My argument regarding gun control has been heard time and time again, for this I will only say, mental health HAS TO BE a huge variable in the ability to obtain weapons. YOU SHOULD BE REQUIRED TO have a mental status examination if nothing else.
Why has this country not learned anything? Why do we allow the same things to happen over and over and over again and scream about the constitution as if that makes everything ok? When did your mental stability or lack thereof begin to trump MY PERSONAL RIGHT TO LIVE! Now we are faced with mourning yet again and as usual, the media, my media is adding their sensational touches. I don't care about his novel of a manifesto, what I care about is all the MASSIVE clues he left ahead of time. I don't care about his last video, the very video that led his own mother to seek further help, unfortunately for her, it was too late.
I don't blame his family. I pray for them as well. For those who say, how dare you show grace to the ones who knew him best, I ask you to take a moment. Imagine it is your child who was shot or heaven forbid, killed during this massacre. Now imagine it's your child who perpetrated the act. My heart stopped twice. I can't imagine my world without my son, and I can't imagine a world where my son would be the one to cause such pain. It's a private hell that his family will battle with for the rest of their lives. They will ask themselves daily, what should I have done, what didn't I do, what more could I have done. Their's is a burden they will live with forever. I pray that they will use this tragedy and help shed a greater light on mental illness. I pray they will take it upon themselves to push for greater recognition of what mental illness can do, how it can move, how it can disguise itself, how and what families can do to keep the dialogue open within their own homes and with those around them. There is so much here that can and needs to be addressed, and I for one am tired of giving the perpetrators of ugly the very stage they seek.
