To the editor:
Yes, we need effective gun control that could keep guns out of the hands of all people who would use them to kill, themselves or others. Though the diagnosed mentally ill get most of the media attention in conversations about gun violence, they are a tiny fraction of all those who kill with guns.
Gun regulation is not enough. Keeping guns out of the hands of the mentally ill and putting those people in the hands of the criminal justice system is certainly not enough, either.
Both our criminal justice systems and our mental health care systems are dysfunctional and becoming increasingly expensive, cumbersome, and ineffective as the control is placed more and more in the hands of profit driven corporations. We need to reform these systems. And we need to create healthy communities and climates that can take care of all the basic needs (physical, social, emotional, mental, and moral) of everyone, and especially the poorest and most vulnerable among us.
Alice Bolstridge, Ph. D.
Presque Isle
