Pedro X. Molina for May 27, 2023

Monomania is a mental disease or defect if it impinges on normal daily activities.

Which means 4 out of 10 Americans believe that any effort to reduce gun violence is exactly the same as total confiscation of all guns.

Republicanitis — symptoms include fear, anger, constant grievance, cruelty, and hatred

Republicans cut mental health care budgets, ban books and promote guns.

A large many of republican need psychological help or phycotic drugs

“But…But…But…Muh Freedumms…”

And yes, this is how they “think”.

Overcoming our national violent tendencies requires that we take a truthful look at ourselves.

There are at least 20 million AR-15s in circulation in the U.S. today. The velocity and impact of their rounds is devastating; much as we dislike it, this was the main reason the police in Uvalde were reluctant to storm the school, feeling outgunned. Shooters are also increasingly using military grade body armor, making them more difficult to neutralize. But here’s the rationale of a Texas state legislator after Uvalde: "… the perpetrator’s firepower was irrelevant because “he had enough time” to kill the 19 children and two teachers “with his hands or a baseball bat, and so it’s not the gun.” Thoughts and prayers, thoughts and prayers.

“Mental health” is a red-herring talking point, nothing more. They know full well that the people needing help are just the kind that would never seek it; and identifying them and forcing them to get help would also be looked at as a violation of their rights.

Gun care and health control. Your kids come dead last in the eyes of the ILA/NRA and the firearms industry. Laws that work in much of the rest of the world would work here and still let Hunter’s and sport shooters have firearms but the Reich-wing nut jobs will continue to obstruct common sense with their BS. Profits come before you and your children and grandchildren

Or, we might spend more $$ on mental health treatment?

Nah, that’d never work.

Charlie Kirk’s opinion is that “some gun deaths are an acceptable price to maintain the freedom to bear arms. Having an armed citizenry comes with a price, and that is part of liberty.”

There is indeed a need, for better mental health services for inhabitants of the USA, but tax cuts trashed that.

“Psychosis occurs when a person loses touch with reality due to a decline in their mental well-being. It could either be a sign of an underlying medical condition or occur due to a stressful or traumatic event. It’s also referred to as a psychotic break or episode”.

The traumatic event, of course, was the election of a black man to the White House. The underlying mental condition is from years of living in the right-wing echo chamber and watching the Fox Propaganda channel and the like. Either of those alone could cause psychosis. Combine the two and it becomes a near certainty. I believe that this is the only way to explain how more than 70 million Americans descended into permanent, bitter hatred and then to supporting anti-American fascists.

My gun nut nephew says that he needs his guns to protect himself. But I notice that his gun gives him false confidence to place himself into situations where he probably will need to protect himself.

As the researchers at Harvard have clearly documented (through literature reviews), there is a strong correlation between gun ownership and gun violence. D-uh.

I wonder if any parents of children killed in mass shootings choose guns. (I do hope not!)