The following column is the opinion and analysis of the writer:
On Sunday, July 18 my daughter and I were about to go see a movie when shots rang out on the street directly outside my house on Irene Vista, which was the culmination of a horrific afternoon of violence that left two dead and several first responders wounded.
Despite two bullets hitting our house, we are fine, but the aftermath of this tragedy reinforces a different conclusion for society. We are not fine. High-powered weapons, inequity, and mental illness are all too plentiful, while gun control, economic opportunities and mental health treatment are all too scarce.
Tucson police chief Chris Magnus pointed out that the shooting suspect had a history of mental illness, a broken record we often hear after mass shootings. The aspect that haunts me the most from this tragedy is the damage to our collective mental health, and the almost total failure of government to address the root causes of this violence.
I assume the first responders involved at least have access to proper counseling, but I think about the son who witnessed his good Samaritan father being murdered as he tried to help put out the house fire the shooter may have started. Will this boy be left to fend for himself like society at large?
In the 1970s, I briefly worked as a janitor in a psychiatric hospital. Back then, health insurance covered the costs to stay weeks in the hospital in order to get better. Now this type of care is not available for the masses.
Fifteen years ago I tried to help my late mother find a psychiatric inpatient bed in order to be evaluated. The brutal lesson from that experience was that about the most you can expect during a mental health crisis is to be admitted for a few days if you are deemed a threat to yourself or others, which my mother was not. In other words, the status quo for those with severe mental illness is to take folks off the street for a few days, stabilize them with drugs, and then put them back out on the street, or warehouse them in jails and prisons.
I am pleased to see the GoFundMe accounts for victims and their families, but public charity cannot fix the bigger issues. We need government to step in to fund effective solutions and of course make sure those struggling with mental illness can get the help they need.
Here on Irene Vista, the police stopped the shooter, but no cavalry is riding to the rescue to address the root causes of the shooting. Prayers and support are needed for the victims and their families, but most of all pray for and pressure all levels of government to do what it takes to stop this madness.
