Gov. Sam Brownback announced Thursday that his administration will spend another $10 million on mental health care. His decision was reportedly prompted by the mass murders in December at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., where 26 students and teachers died.
Police haven’t said whether the killer, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, had a history of mental illness. He also killed his mother at her home, and later killed himself. Is it just our national angst telling us these crimes might have been avoided, if only Lanza had been in an institution, or at least properly medicated and under the care of a counselor? No sane person could do such a thing, could he?
It makes sense. In many mass murder cases, evidence points to mental illness: Seung-Hui Chor, who killed 23 people and wounded 17  before taking his own life at Virginia Tech in 2005, had a history of mental illness; Jared Lee Loughneri, who killed six people and wounded 19 others in 2011 at Tucson, Ariz., was diagnosed with schizophrenia; and James Eagen Holmes, who is charged with killing 12 people and injuring 58 more last July in an Aurora, Colo., movie theater, was described as “mentally ill” by his defense attorney.
So, while others have been jumping onto their usual bandwagons – one group headed toward repealing the Second Amendment and banning video games, and another seeking to order every school teacher to get a concealed carry permit and come to school armed – advocates for mental health were not sitting idly by. Groups such as the National Institutes of Health have been crying out for better mental health care.
While Americans go through this time of grief and soul searching, there’s nothing wrong with trying to prevent the next mass shooting. Instead of seeking a form of prohibition, this movement offers a positive step that can be taken. It may not prevent the next Newtown, but it could actually help a lot of people.
Susan Thacker