It's not a gun issue.....

In the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings, I am not only deeply deeply sad but also mad as hell.

First and foremost, it's not a gun control issue. It's a personality-disorder issue. We can't keep people from carrying guns. It's just not an option in this day and age. What should have been done to prevent this horrific massacre is very simple.

First, his peers and parents should have done more about his apparent personality disorder and sociopathic behavior. The writing was on the wall. No one did anything to get him help, medication or be put into counseling. Now, I am in no way defending the shooter. He was a coward and a sociopath. BUT, the psychological pre-disposition for such a crime was plain as day.

I am also not saying we should lock everyone up who "appears" disturbed, but his parents and community should have made more of an effort to thwart more serious behaviors.

I commend Professor Roy for recognizing his disturbing writings and alerting the appropriate people when his behavior was called in question. But, that's where it stopped. I find it hard to believe that his own parents were not aware of his mental health.

I know that in the US, we are quick to diagnose and medicate those with mental health issues and maybe this is a cultural issue being that the shooter was Korean and their values do not weigh heavily on the mental health of its citizens as does ours. I'm not trying to sound ethnocentric, and maybe I am, but I really am not making apologies today for anything, it's just as I see it.

I also think that it is also a shame that this massacre is becoming polarized as an anti-gun argument. The shift to gun control is missing the entire point of why this happened. The issue is that this individual was sick. If he would have been treated or medicated this whole thing could have possbily been avoided. We don't live in a vacuum, I realize that. There are bad eggs out there.

But what if Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris's folks had recognized the signs of truly disturbed individuals, we would not even recognize the name Columbine. Would we?

I know it's not a black and white issue, there will still be crazy, disturbed people out there who find their way into our institutions with guns but this situation could have been prevented, in my honest opinion. I am not even going to get started on the topic of the University's neglegence to inform students appropriately after the first shooting. I am more curious what others think as I might be over-simplifying the issue to come to some sense of understanding.

so, thoughts?