It is easier to get a gun than mental health care

[goodboy]

There will be more shooting rampages, like that which targeted Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson last weekend -- as long as it is easier to get a gun than mental health care. Our current epidemic of mass shootings is but a symptom of our nation's broken health care system. Poor access to medical care jeopardizes an individual's health. But when the mentally ill or the seriously distressed can't access care, we are all at risk.


Do you agree with this assessment? While I think mental illness can be a contributing factor in violent acts, I don't think it is the cause....then everyone with mental illness would be violent.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dora-calott-wang-md/its-easier-to-get-a-gun-t_b_808027.html

[slackmaster]

1. Apples to oranges. I'm not sure that it's difficult to get mental health care in Arizona.

I did a cursory Web search and had no trouble finding at least basic crisis intervention services offered for free in Tucson. But even if it's easy and free to get treatment that's not the whole picture. A person has to either seek care voluntarily, which many people won't; or be compelled to go, which raises potential civil rights issues.

I'll take Dr. Wang at her word that the system is not what it could be, and stay tuned for the discussion in case it doesn't immediately go in the "guns" ditch.

[TheWraith]

2. False. For starters, it's a myth that there's an "epidemic" of mass shootings.

Mass shootings are, in fact, extremely rare--the distinction is that thanks to the media, you almost always hear when one happens, so they appear more prevalent than they actually are. It's like with child abductions--you would think, listening to the media, that they happen every day in every single city. In fact, the non-family abduction rate in the US is between 100 and 150 a year. Or put more personally, a city with a population of two million is likely to have one non-family child abduction every two years.

As far as mental health care, the biggest limitations are twofold. One, that the people who need it usually don't THINK they need it, and that when they are recognized as needing it, usually they depend on government programs for which the funding is unreliable and tightly rationed. It's not that it's hard to get, it's that it's hard to get PAID FOR.

[CreekDog]

9. Compared to other weathy democracies, there IS an epidemic in this country

of these shootings and of shootings in general.

[Paladin]

21. Prove It. (n/t)

[closeupready]

3. Not true.

n/t

[Shagbark Hickory]

4. Never tried to do either but I'm sure a gun is a helluva lot cheaper. nt

[jody]

5. What is your point? How much authority do you want to surrender to govt, so it can deny you the

privilege of flying without a chance to defend yourself under "Amendment IV The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized"?

Do you consent to an appointed govt. agent deciding based on an anonymous phone tip that you should be placed on a No Fly List and denied a chance to defend yourself in a court supposed to protect all inalienable rights of We the People?

Before you reply, please browse ACLU's thoughts at Frequently Asked Questions About the "No Fly List" and tell the Internet audience why you believe ACLU has it all wrong.

Please understand that under 18 USC 922, arms can not legally be possessed by anyone who "has been adjudicated as a mental defective or has been committed to any mental institution".

Why do you want to use the power of government to deny a law-abiding citizen the right to exercise a natural, inherent, inalienable/unalienable right?

[DrLax]

6. Pretty Simplistic

Of course I agree. There is a lot of stigma associated with getting help and many times the person does not realize they need it. Buying a gun is part of the American culture.

IRT goodboy's comment...

"then everyone with mental illness would be violent"
You obviously have no first hand experience.
The brain is so complex we don't understand how it works and the mechanism of many drugs used in the mental health profession is not even known. Such a blanket statement reveals your lack of education in the area of mental illnesses.

-Edit for spelling

[jody]

7. Welcome to DU

:hi:

[Name removed]

18. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[goodboy]

20. wait a second...

so is mental illness a cause of violence/

[guardian]

8. Not true

Both are easy to get.....if you pay for it. Point in fact it is easier to get mental health care than to buy a gun. There is no statutory mandatory waiting period. No permit required. The process is simple:

1. Open the phone book
2. Find a mental health professional
3. Schedule an appointment
4. Pay for your treatment

Be a cash payer, or purchase health insurance that explicitly covers mental healthcare. Getting mental healthcare is EASY, not cheap. Go figure, mental healthcare professionals want to be paid for their work. So the OP and the referenced article are both misleading.

I think you'll find getting a 'free' gun is not easy at your local gun shop.

[madinmaryland]

10. #4 is the problem. Many of the people needing help, do not have insurance, cannot afford

insurance, or cannot afford to pay for the treatment. More than 50 million people have no insurance, and many more have insurance that is woefully inadequate.

Without insurance or a healthy bank account, it is NOT easy to get mental health care.

[guardian]

13. You are confusing

"easy" with cheap or affordable. Not the same thing. The comparison of the OP was with gun ownership. Point of fact is it is EASIER to get $500 of mental healthcare than it is to buy a $500 gun.

Mental healthcare is expensive. But many things are expensive. The thesis of the OP is no more valid than saying it is easier to buy a pack of chewing gum than to get healthcare.

[madinmaryland]

16. No.

What I am saying is that it is easier to get mental health care if you have health insurance than if you don't.
Get any health care is cost related and if you don't have money, you are most likely not to get the care you need.

Maybe the word is "available" rather than "easy" but it is the same point.

Health Care is expensive, and I was not actually commenting on the OP, but a point that I have with the health care system in this country. Yes, it is off topic.

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[bobbolink]

12. This conflating violence with "mental illness" must stop. If "progressives" can't understand this,

then something is drastically WRONG. :grr:

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. Yes, it is a combo

lack of access to mental health care, or health care for that matter

and.... the end of the middle class as we know it.

At times I wonder if people just want to cause a revolt. Then I am reminded... no, pols never, ever want that... and they are always surprised.

[Kennah]

15. Opportunity, jobs, training

Without them, people will increasingly engage in hate speech. I guess we're really going to have to put curbs on the First Amendment.

:sarcasm:

[provis99]

17. It actually IS easier for me to get a gun than get mental health care.

I know, because I've gotten both. And it was much easier to get a gun, or for that matter a concealed weapon permit in Indiana, than it was to get mental health care.

[slackmaster]

19. I, for one, am glad that you were able to obtain both and had the option to do so

:hi: