If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
Following a public act of unspeakable horror, like the shootings in Connecticut or Aurora, mental health professionals are asked to explain why or how a person could hurt others so profoundly. And then we are asked how to identify such people and prevent these violent acts.
The future has its surprises. Even the most farseeing among us, are -- for better or worse -- regularly caught off-guard by what tomorrow has to offer. Take the murderous acts of two disturbed young men.
Do we really have the courage to stop the marketing of the culture of death that only brightens the fatal allure of its instruments? Not unless we can curb not only gun abuses but also our gladiatorial diet of doom.
In our post 9/11 world Sikhs have been victims of an increasing number of hate crimes, school bullying and workplace discrimination. Have we been systematically desensitized so that the default for a turban and a beard translates to a potential terrorist?
Almost all Americans would agree that dangerously mentally ill individuals, possibly like James Holmes, and like Tucson shooter Jared Loughner (who was found incompetent to stand trial because of paranoid schizophrenia) should not be able to legally purchase firearms.
President Obama has said that he would rather be a good one-term president, than a mediocre two-term one. If he really means that then why doesn't he issue an executive order banning assault weapons and high-capacity gun magazines?
In this era of polarized politics, it is not surprising that some on the right are up in arms about the Supreme Court's recent decision on health care. And I do mean -- literally -- up in arms. But the Affordable Care Act is the law of the land. It was enacted by duly constituted authority. It was passed by both the House of Representatives and the Senate. It was signed by President Barack Obama. It was upheld as constitutional by the Supreme Court. There is only one place for frustrated citizens to pass judgment on the wisdom of the law; at the ballot box in November. Calls for nullification, as the Court noted in Cooper v. Aaron, render our Constitution a "solemn mockery." Such calls also embolden the actions of others who will throw the bricks, sticks, and rocks; issue the threats; and brandish the guns.
Not only are the vast majority of schizophrenics law-abiding citizens, many of them hold down good jobs and function at a high level, though few have achieved the laurels of Elyn Saks.
Any argument that antipsychotic medication will harm or kill Loughner is completely specious. At core, Loughner's attorneys fear something else; they fear that if their client stands trial, he may be subjected to the death penalty.
It is important that this week, one year after the tragedy at Tucson, we remember those who were senselessly slaughtered there, including a 9-year old girl.
I wonder why it is that we would "like" to associate violent crime with mental illness. Is it because we do not want to face the possibility that any "normal" person is capable of a heinous act?
Denied a concealed handgun permit in your home state because of your criminal and mental health background? No problem. Thanks to the NRA, you'll now simply be able to mail-order a permit from Utah or Florida and you're ready to carry.
An Arizona Republican fundraiser is offering as a prize the same type of gun used in the attempted assassination of Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.
When anger over Obama's healthcare law led protestors to break the windows of Gabrielle Giffords' offices, she called for "outbursts of violence" to c...
Pundits have been filling the airwaves and national cable news about what our society should do about gun violence in the aftermath of the atrocities ...
It is easy to forget about the plight of the families of those who commit murders. Victim assistance programs don't consider the killer's family might need help, too.
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