Rant of the Week: Mental Health and the Liberal-Conservative Gun Debate

The Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia, have reported in the New England Journal of Medicine that research has indicated conservatives have a totally different genetic structure. Part of the findings of the five-year longitudinal study of conservatives includes a startling discovery by Dr. Harlow Fahrblaster.

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In it, he wrote, “We looked at a cross-section of conservatives from the poorest to the wealthiest and found almost no differences at all other than what brand of cigar they smoke and what financial advisor they employ to get out of paying their fair share of taxes. When you peal back those superficial differences we found they all shared a genetic structure that indicates they are hostile aliens from another world.”

Now if that appeared in Salon Magazine, was reported on CNN, or discussed on “The View,”you can bet your 5-11 tactical pants it would be gospel spewed out by every media outlet on the far side of Fox News. Liberals are infamous for outright lying and even more infamous for outright believing the trash that liberal pundits put out.

One of the recurring themes liberals keep espousing is about gun control and mental illness, and as recently as several days ago, it was briefly mentioned in an op-ed in the Calaveras Enterprise titled, “Dude, Where’s My Representative.” I probably don’t need to tell you this is in California, right “dude”?

Jerry Tuck, author of the op-ed, was on a diatribe about conservative mentality, local political conservatives in general and POTUS specifically. Tuck wrote, “The “swamp” does need to be drained, but all the toothy reptiles exposed by the receding water will not be Democrats.” Then, specifically about Republicans, he said “…They howl about the Second Amendment, but crazy white men with assault rifles are doing all the killing and gun control is a socialist plot… and mental health is the cause of the killings so they passed a law ensuring that the mentally ill can buy guns.”

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Last month in Politico, Jonathan Metzl penned a piece titled, “I’m a Psychiatrist. Making Gun Violence about Mental Health Is a Crazy Idea.” In it, Metzl wrote, with reference to the Sutherland Springs, Texas, mass murder, “…before we knew about the extent of the injury and death, or the events that transpired or the biography and motives of yet another angry white male armed with a semi-automatic rifle and a grudge—before we really knew anything, President Donald Trump jumped into the fray with a diagnosis. ‘Mental health is your problem here,’ Trump opined…’This isn’t a guns situation. This is a mental health problem at the highest level.’”

Metzl went on to write, “Respectfully, Mr. President: It’s not that easy. As a psychiatrist who’s taken a hard look at the connection between mental health and gun violence, I’ve seen where this conversation leads, which usually involves trying to prevent “mentally ill” people from buying guns and involving mental health practitioners in that effort.”

Well duh, that’s the point. And I find it interesting that a psychiatrist would say in the same breath he has no clue how to deal with a situation germane to his Ph.D., but he knows better how to do the President’s job than the President himself.

It is true that Trump said the problem is a mental health issue, because it is a mental health issue. Trump isn’t the only president to have felt that way. An Obama-era regulation would have required the Social Security Administration to report any beneficiaries with psychiatric disabilities to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. The NRA opposed the rule, not so it could assure higher gun sales as liberals love to say any occasion they get, but rather because it was so loosely written that almost anyone could fall victim to it for something as simple as having help balancing your checkbook.

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Let’s be realistic here. Every day, mental health professionals are judging whether or not someone is psychologically fit to go into law enforcement, the military, become an airline pilot or a host of other occupations. They routinely make decisions that affect people’s lives, but when it comes to reporting those who might generally be considered a loose wing-nut and threat to society over firearm ownership, they don’t know how to do it? Seriously?

How about this? Stop writing stupid op-eds, go back to college and take a couple of professional courses to remind you what to look for in a raving lunatic and be part of the solution instead of blabbing pointlessly about the problem.

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