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“If those elementary school kids had been allowed to bring their guns to school this never would have happened like this. We need to expand access.” -Someone from the NRA in the next couple of days.

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Attention moves because nothing happens. It's too politicized for anything constructive to ever happen.

Mental illness is not new. It's not worse. In fact treatment is more accessible and effective than ever before.

Guns are not new. They are not worse. In fact they are more accessible and effective than ever before.

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Mental/Public Health is real. Speaking from a family that buries PTSD since WWII through Vietnam I’ve seen & felt mental health issues in this perspective. Another perspective that I wasn’t privy to was an everyday struggle of being bipolar or “mentally unbalanced “ Which my wife’s family is subject to & struggle with on a daily basis. I’m reminded of Blockbuster video, “please be kind, & rewind.”

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May 24, 2022·edited May 24, 2022

Public health issue 1. Lets say I'm trying to prevent a heart attack. The appropriate way to do this would be to address all of the following risk factors: smoking, obesity, high cholesterol, hypertension, diabetes, diet, etc. Sometimes its hard to manage some individual risk factors ideally, but the idea is that the more you can address all the risk factors holistically, the more you can reduce the risk of a heart attack. If you treat some and ignore others, the degree of risk reduction you achieve will likely be suboptimal.

Public Health issue 2. preventing gun related shootings. We can work on improving mental health (although in political practice that is complicated). We can also work on gun control; they are not mutually exclusive; further, focusing on one and not the other is also very likely to lead to suboptimal outcomes.

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Whenever I drop off my 6 year old to her kindergarten, as I watch her walk back through the hallway, down past the crossway and into the back hallway and through the centrum to her class, it never fails that I think to myself, however fleeting of a thought it is, that I'm thankful that her classroom access isn't close to one of the entry doors on either side of the building. Because at least that means that if something like this happens, she may not be easily accessible. I can't account for the rest of the day, when she is traveling to music, or library, or lunch, but at least while she's in the classroom, she's 'somewhat' safe. It is a TERRIBLE way to think as a parent and on some days, it is crippling. I have vivid memories of Columbine, and the shock and astonishment that followed - 'how', 'why', 'isolated', 'lone'....the fact that these events have become, as you stated, endemic, is horrifying and as a parent, the vicarious grief and feelings of dread are consuming and debilitating.

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