I do not want a gun, BUT

[Are_grits_groceries]

I really don't want my name on a list that will lable me as mentally ill and unstable.

I do not trust the people who will come up with the criteria for inclusion on that list. I also shudder at the thought of what the gun lobby will do in pushing this issue.

If they have to convince people that a better method to control gun violence is to control the mentally ill, they will spend eleventy billion dollars to do so. They will scare the bejesus out of people, and fear can make people irrational.

"Mentally ill" is a catchall phrase for many conditions. They can be very different. I don't trust others to make distinctions. In addition, don't tell me that psychiatrists will not allow this. They don't write the laws or choose who legislators consider to be experts. Unfortunately, I have run into some real loons with MDs in psychiatry who have ideas that are waaay out of the mainstream. I have run from them as quickly as I could.

I have never had any thoughts of hurting others. When I am deeply depressed. I am more a danger to myself. Guns make it so easy to choose "a very bad way" to escape the pain. The are quick and final. They offer no way to recover if you do try or have a really bad moment and completely give up. Many people do choose other ways but survive and feel the dark clouds lifting.

There are untold numbers of people who have problems that do need help. Some may just need counseling to get them through and stop the possibility of these problems from becoming a scary issue. Others need more intensive help that can still be provided as out patients. Then there are those in extremis that do need hospitalization.

The cuts in programs to help those with mental issues have consigned many to a living hell. It is beyond cruel to the person with the problem, their families, and others who are close to them. Giving in to continual cuts in these programs and to the sequester have made it exponentially worse. The funds for these services are a drop in the bucket compared to money spent on other wasteful programs.

Sermonette over.