YGSM.

Richard :munchin

This was the exact topic discussed during a state debrief in AZ after the Tucson shooting: more damage would have been done had the shooter been in an SUV and run right into the crowd.....more dead, more injured was the expectation.

There are more deaths by motor vehicles and drugs in a week than by guns in a month or two but sensationalism carries the headlines. Sad state of affairs and our legislators refuse to hear our explanations as Trauma professionals 'experts' in the field of injury management and prevention.:munchin

i don't know if I should be happier he found a parking space or that he had a gun. Maybe part of that perception is that auto deaths seem somewhat proportional to the number of cars on the road, the miles/ hours driven and the perception that the primary purpose of driving a car is deemed beneficial and or productive. Perhaps also that there is a perception that as much as can reasonably be done to balance the benefits and the risks is being done through road engineering, laws governing vehicle operation, designation of areas where driving is allowed and forbidden, vehicle inspection and registration, aggressive enforcement of traffic laws . . . On and on . . . .

These types of arguments are not going to be effective in the near future.

proportional huh, how about the 300 million American guns that stood idle the same day of the AZ shooting? The socialists dems will not make that argument or take that into consideration.

She's not the only one: Senator Manchin calls to open AW debate

He has an "A" rating with the NRA as well :confused:.

Snip:
Be that as it may, the 2nd Amendment wasn't for sportsman/hunters. It was for the Americans Right to defend themselves against all enemies; Foreign and domestic. I may as well move to Germany and get it over with. The beer is better.

Friday’s horrific national tragedy has ignited a new discussion on violence in America. In blogs, kitchens and Starbucks' across the country, we are now debating the many faces of violence in America: gun culture, media violence, lack of mental health services, overt and covert wars abroad, religion, politics and the way we raise our children. Liza Long, a writer based in Boise, says it’s easy to talk about guns...but now it’s time to talk about mental illness.

I've seen this in families of learning different (LD) children, and found Ms Long's blog to be a compelling read and something to think about with these issues.

Richard :munchin

Thinking The Unthinkable

Three days before 20 year-old Adam Lanza killed his mother, then opened fire on a classroom full of Connecticut kindergartners, my 13-year old son Michael (name changed) missed his bus because he was wearing the wrong color pants.

“I can wear these pants,” he said, his tone increasingly belligerent, the black-hole pupils of his eyes swallowing the blue irises.

“They are navy blue,” I told him. “Your school’s dress code says black or khaki pants only.”

“They told me I could wear these,” he insisted. “You’re a stupid bitch. I can wear whatever pants I want to. This is America. I have rights!”

“You can’t wear whatever pants you want to,” I said, my tone affable, reasonable. “And you definitely cannot call me a stupid bitch. You’re grounded from electronics for the rest of the day. Now get in the car, and I will take you to school.”

I live with a son who is mentally ill. I love my son. But he terrifies me.

A few weeks ago, Michael pulled a knife and threatened to kill me and then himself after I asked him to return his overdue library books. His 7 and 9 year old siblings knew the safety plan—they ran to the car and locked the doors before I even asked them to. I managed to get the knife from Michael, then methodically collected all the sharp objects in the house into a single Tupperware container that now travels with me. Through it all, he continued to scream insults at me and threaten to kill or hurt me.

That conflict ended with three burly police officers and a paramedic wrestling my son onto a gurney for an expensive ambulance ride to the local emergency room. The mental hospital didn’t have any beds that day, and Michael calmed down nicely in the ER, so they sent us home with a prescription for Zyprexa and a follow-up visit with a local pediatric psychiatrist.

We still don’t know what’s wrong with Michael. Autism spectrum, ADHD, Oppositional Defiant or Intermittent Explosive Disorder have all been tossed around at various meetings with probation officers and social workers and counselors and teachers and school administrators. He’s been on a slew of antipsychotic and mood altering pharmaceuticals, a Russian novel of behavioral plans. Nothing seems to work.

At the start of seventh grade, Michael was accepted to an accelerated program for highly gifted math and science students. His IQ is off the charts. When he’s in a good mood, he will gladly bend your ear on subjects ranging from Greek mythology to the differences between Einsteinian and Newtonian physics to Doctor Who. He’s in a good mood most of the time. But when he’s not, watch out. And it’s impossible to predict what will set him off.

Several weeks into his new junior high school, Michael began exhibiting increasingly odd and threatening behaviors at school. We decided to transfer him to the district’s most restrictive behavioral program, a contained school environment where children who can’t function in normal classrooms can access their right to free public babysitting from 7:30-1:50 Monday through Friday until they turn 18.

The morning of the pants incident, Michael continued to argue with me on the drive. He would occasionally apologize and seem remorseful. Right before we turned into his school parking lot, he said, “Look, Mom, I’m really sorry. Can I have video games back today?”

“No way,” I told him. “You cannot act the way you acted this morning and think you can get your electronic privileges back that quickly.”

His face turned cold, and his eyes were full of calculated rage. “Then I’m going to kill myself,” he said. “I’m going to jump out of this car right now and kill myself.”

That was it. After the knife incident, I told him that if he ever said those words again, I would take him straight to the mental hospital, no ifs, ands, or buts. I did not respond, except to pull the car into the opposite lane, turning left instead of right.

“Where are you taking me?” he said, suddenly worried. “Where are we going?”

“You know where we are going,” I replied.

“No! You can’t do that to me! You’re sending me to hell! You’re sending me straight to hell!”

I pulled up in front of the hospital, frantically waiving for one of the clinicians who happened to be standing outside. “Call the police,” I said. “Hurry.”

Michael was in a full-blown fit by then, screaming and hitting. I hugged him close so he couldn’t escape from the car. He bit me several times and repeatedly jabbed his elbows into my rib cage. I’m still stronger than he is, but I won’t be for much longer.

The police came quickly and carried my son screaming and kicking into the bowels of the hospital. I started to shake, and tears filled my eyes as I filled out the paperwork—“Were there any difficulties with… at what age did your child… were there any problems with.. has your child ever experienced.. does your child have…”

At least we have health insurance now. I recently accepted a position with a local college, giving up my freelance career because when you have a kid like this, you need benefits. You’ll do anything for benefits. No individual insurance plan will cover this kind of thing.

For days, my son insisted that I was lying—that I made the whole thing up so that I could get rid of him. The first day, when I called to check up on him, he said, “I hate you. And I’m going to get my revenge as soon as I get out of here.”

By day three, he was my calm, sweet boy again, all apologies and promises to get better. I’ve heard those promises for years. I don’t believe them anymore.

On the intake form, under the question, “What are your expectations for treatment?” I wrote, “I need help.”

And I do. This problem is too big for me to handle on my own. Sometimes there are no good options. So you just pray for grace and trust that in hindsight, it will all make sense.

I am sharing this story because I am Adam Lanza’s mother. I am Dylan Klebold’s and Eric Harris’s mother. I am James Holmes’s mother. I am Jared Loughner’s mother. I am Seung-Hui Cho’s mother. And these boys—and their mothers—need help. In the wake of another horrific national tragedy, it’s easy to talk about guns. But it’s time to talk about mental illness.

According to Mother Jones, since 1982, 61 mass murders involving firearms have occurred throughout the country. Of these, 43 of the killers were white males, and only one was a woman. Mother Jones focused on whether the killers obtained their guns legally (most did). But this highly visible sign of mental illness should lead us to consider how many people in the U.S. live in fear, like I do.

When I asked my son’s social worker about my options, he said that the only thing I could do was to get Michael charged with a crime. “If he’s back in the system, they’ll create a paper trail,” he said. “That’s the only way you’re ever going to get anything done. No one will pay attention to you unless you’ve got charges.”

I don’t believe my son belongs in jail. The chaotic environment exacerbates Michael’s sensitivity to sensory stimuli and doesn’t deal with the underlying pathology. But it seems like the United States is using prison as the solution of choice for mentally ill people. According to Human Rights Watch, the number of mentally ill inmates in U.S. prisons quadrupled from 2000 to 2006, and it continues to rise—in fact, the rate of inmate mental illness is five times greater (56 percent) than in the non-incarcerated population.

With state-run treatment centers and hospitals shuttered, prison is now the last resort for the mentally ill—Rikers Island, the LA County Jail and Cook County Jail in Illinois housed the nation’s largest treatment centers in 2011.

No one wants to send a 13-year old genius who loves Harry Potter and his snuggle animal collection to jail. But our society, with its stigma on mental illness and its broken healthcare system, does not provide us with other options. Then another tortured soul shoots up a fast food restaurant. A mall. A kindergarten classroom. And we wring our hands and say, “Something must be done.”

I agree that something must be done. It’s time for a meaningful, nation-wide conversation about mental health. That’s the only way our nation can ever truly heal.

God help me. God help Michael. God help us all.

http://anarchistsoccermom.blogspot.com/

Here's a counter-blog to Ms Long's blog post by Sarah Kendizor.

Want the Truth Behind “I Am Adam Lanza’s Mother”? Read her blog.

http://sarahkendzior.com/2012/12/16/...read-her-blog/

And here's "A Joint Statement From Sarah and Liza" after Sarah Kendzior wrote the counter to Ms Long's original blog.

http://sarahkendzior.com/2012/12/17/...arah-and-liza/

Thanks Richard. Had seen that last night but couldn't get to the link from the verdammte mil filter. A heartfelt perspective indeed.

Thank you for posting this.

Eye opening.

Richard- This is the most moving piece that I have read. Thank you for posting this and with your permission, I would like to copy it and send it to all of the educators I know. Very, very moving and absolutely the right perspective on the problem.

Thank you {Salute}

Dianne and Nancy are going to be voted the NRA's women of the year for their collective efforts to out sale any previous politician in history!

Gun and ammo sales going through the roof!

Mental institutions
 

According to the Harris County Sheriff's Office, the largest mental health facility in Texas is the Harris County Jail.

Yeah nice article but a couple of things irk me to no end. I love how the entitlement crowd will pay 200k for a house, 40k for a car but refuse to buy their own health insurance and just complain that the "healthcare" system is "broken". I ain't buying or drinking that koolaide.

There is no way to stop these mass killings unless you place armed security in every school in the nation. Even then some schools are so big that campus security could/would take several minutes to get to the scene. We can't stop bank robberies, we'll never stop automobile accidents and we'll never stop evil, we'll just react to it.

We all forgetting 9/11? With all the security available and all the technology 20 armed bad guys still got aboard our planes. And we reacted.

We've already seen what happens in gun-free zones and in gun free cities. Entire nations have banned guns and their gun violence is on the rise by very large percentages.
I don't have the answer but I do know targeting the guns and not the individuals that use them in crimes is the wrong approach.

After 9/11 we allowed pilots to carry guns on planes, why can't we allow teachers carry concealed weapons at school?

Right after the Columbine shootings I was a HS Science teacher as well as an AF Security Policeman in the Guard. My principal tried to get the school board to purchase a gun vault and both a 9mm and an AR-15 to put into my classroom. It almost worked until I asked for a lot more than $22,500 a year to both teach and become the security team for a 1300 person high school.

There was an interesting article on PoliceOne referencing a speech by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman. He makes the point that we have over lapping methods of mitigating risk relevant to fires in schools, fire alarms, extinguishers, fire drills, fire resistant materials, etc. The result being that there have been no school related fire deaths in 50 years. We do not train for an active shooter scenario and are in denial about it happening.

The other statement he makes that I agree with is that an unarmed person is not Security.

Article here.

http://www.policeone.com/active-shoo...emy-is-denial/

[QUOTE=Cake_14N;478908 It almost worked until I asked for a lot more than $22,500 a year to both teach and become the security team for a 1300 person high school.[/QUOTE]

Not to be an ass: I would have been happy to simply teach and be able to protect should need arise. Being a sheepdog has never been about getting better bones.