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In Gun Debate, No Rift on Better Care for Mentally IllSaturday, 13 April 2013 08:57
By Jeremy W Peters, The New York Times News Service | Report
Washington - While the Senate has been consumed with a divisive debate over expanded background checks for gun buyers, lawmakers have been quietly working across party lines on legislation that advocates say could help prevent killers like Adam Lanza, the gunman in the Newtown, Conn., massacre, from slipping through the cracks.
Proponents say the plans, which stand a good chance of being included in any final gun-control bill, would lead to some of the most significant advancements in years in treating mental illness and address a problem that people on both sides of the issue agree is a root cause of gun rampages. Unlike the bitter disagreements that have characterized efforts to limit access to guns, the idea of improving mental health unites Republicans and Democrats, urban and rural, blue state and red state.
This is a place where people can come together, said Senator Debbie Stabenow, Democrat of Michigan, who has worked with some of the Senates most conservative Republicans on a piece of mental health legislation. As weve listened to people on all sides of the gun debate, theyve all talked about the fact that we need to address mental health treatment. And thats what this does.
The issue also appeals to members of Congress in another important way: it serves as a political refuge for Republicans and more conservative Democrats who are eager to offer a federal response to the shootings in Connecticut and Aurora, Colo., but have no interest in taking any action that could be seen as infringing on constitutional gun rights.
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http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/15709-in-gun-debate-no-rift-on-better-care-for-mentally-ill
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)gun restrictions.
The gun cultists are getting out of hand. People toting weapons in public, hoarding multiple lethal weapons, playing militia like these losers, etc., are a threat to a civilized society.
hack89
(39,171 posts)you have been asked this question many times but never answer.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)And probably just as bigoted. That group is about 75% of the gun cultists. Of course many of them overlap with the militia types above.
Response to Hoyt (Reply #5)
hack89 This message was self-deleted by its author.
Of course, you will provide us with the proof, correct?
hack89
(39,171 posts)Hoyt
(54,770 posts)Those defending and promoting guns after tragedies like sandy hook, again you tell me?
My brother has over 40 handguns and I don't even know how many rifles, many of them semi auto, and he isn't anywhere close to being a "gun cultist".
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)Response to Hoyt (Reply #20)
premium This message was self-deleted by its author.
hack89
(39,171 posts)one each for me, my wife, son and daughter. We are all target shooters.
I can tell you that we pose no threat. We are certainly not cultist. It is just one facet of our lives.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)I'm sure Lanza's mom and dad introduced their son into the gun culture at an early age, family outings to shoot things and the like. Nice going mom and dad.
" Zimmerman, Stawicki, NRA Prez Keene's son, Lanza, etc., all felt they were not a threat too."
You know this...how exactly?
hack89
(39,171 posts)so unlike you I don't let irrational fear rule my life.
Thanks for all you do - it is appreciated.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)hack89
(39,171 posts)Recursion
(56,582 posts)? ?
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)But, many gun cultists revere right wing bigots with guns.
hack89
(39,171 posts)improved mental health care will go a long way towards reducing gun deaths.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)kestrel91316
(51,666 posts)Mental illness is a red herring in the gun nuttery debate.
hack89
(39,171 posts)because the majority of gun deaths are suicides.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)Or the wife of a gun nut prone to intimidation.
You guys will do anything to preserve your access to lethal weapons.
hack89
(39,171 posts)her shooting is exactly why mental health reform is so important.
It also shows why limits on magazine size is important - which I support.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)Along with mental health, we need to change the perception of guns (and violence in this country).
Like polluters, banksters, smokers, etc., gun obsession needs to be viewed as a detriment to society.
premium
(3,731 posts)Hoyt
(54,770 posts)I wonder how many so-called gun enthusiasts are on some kind of medication that impedes judgement. Do you think they would voluntarily relinquish their guns. I don't, in fact I bet some would acquire more -- fearing someone might take a few away.
premium
(3,731 posts)probably far outweigh the ones that are, and not all those that are on meds have mental conditions.
Your arguments have become so ridiculous it's actually entertaining to read them and get a good gut laugh.
hack89
(39,171 posts)no accidents, no assaults, no brandishing or threatening? How can you say that person has a problem or represents a threat? Don't people's actual behavior count for anything?
PA Democrat
(13,225 posts)During economic bad times, one of the first places that states will cut spending is on mental health.
People with mental illness and their families unfortunately do not have powerful lobbyists to advocate for them. What is happening is that many of those very same under-served individuals will end up in the prison system, which incidentally has a powerful lobbying presence in DC and every state.
upaloopa
(11,417 posts)mostly federal funds. Federal block grants, Medicaid and Medicare fund the largest part of mental health programs in counties. States add to that with sales taxes and vehicle license fees. In CA we have a 1% millionaires tax for children's mental health. By law that money has to be spent one mental health. The federal money is channeled through the states and passed down to counties that provide the services.
Yet you are right in that the funds are not enough to fit the need.
PA Democrat
(13,225 posts)In March, 2011, NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, released State Mental Health Cuts: A National Crisis, a report documenting deep cuts to state spending on services for children and adults living with serious mental illness.1 These cuts, which occurred between 2009 and 2011, led to significant reductions in both hospital and community services for vulnerable individuals with serious mental illness.
Today, with demand for public mental health services extremely high, especially at a time of severe economic distress, the crisis in mental health care continues.2 The impacts are felt throughout society as people go without the treatment they need.
Increasingly, emergency rooms, homeless shelters and jails are struggling with the effects of people falling through the cracks due to lack of needed mental health services and supports.
Some states, such as California, Illinois, Nevada and South Carolina, which made devastating cuts to mental health services previously, have made further cuts for fiscal year (FY) 2012, putting tens of thousands of citizens at great risk. States have cut more than $1.6 billion in general funds from their state mental health agency budgets for mental health services since FY2009, a period during which demand for such services increased significantly. These cuts translate into loss of vital services such as housing, Assertive Community Treatment, access to psychiatric medications and crisis services.
http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?Section=state_budget_cuts_report]
steve2470
(37,457 posts)upaloopa
(11,417 posts)mental health programs? Putting money where the mouth is
Recursion
(56,582 posts)The mentally ill are about ten times more likely to be victims of gun violence than perpetrators.
HereSince1628
(36,063 posts)and that teacher training money it is the largest part of the spending...
Training teachers isn't treatment. The supplementally educated teachers are supposed to contribute to better access for kids by having an adult in their life notice the signs of mental illness "before they get serious" (and by that it seems to mean before they commit an atrocity in one of our nation's schools)
Much of the money is supposed to turn elementary and secondary teachers into front-line screeners of children for mental health.
I have nothing against teachers, but a course in developmental/ed psych they typically get in their undergrad training isn't going to be much boosted by DEd website on the signs of mental illness or an hour or two in-service workshop.
Even if the content of those programs is good, spending less than $10 to get teachers trained in a such a serious task is really a pittance.
When you look at cutbacks in medicaid programming in the states, this 'new' spending doesn't even come close to breaking even with mental health spending for kids.