Disturbing Times

The last two days have been difficult. I can't imagine what the families and friends of those killed and injured in the massacre at Virginia Tech are going through. As a parent of two college students, my heart goes out to those parents. I can only imagine the frantic calls on cell phones, trying to get through, hoping your child answers, that he or she is okay. On a more personal level, my husband is an alumnus of Virginia Tech. On many levels, this has been hard for him to watch. While being shocked at the carnage, he also grieves for his school. He doesn't want his alma mater to be remembered this way. As we watch the story unfold, so many questions arise. Of course, the issue of gun control will come up later. Although I don't even want to get into that now, I have a hard time listening to the people who say "guns don't kill people, people kill people" or the idiot who suggested that all of the students should be carrying guns for safety(????????). This young man was obviously seriously disturbed. A teacher tried to get him help; university administration and police knew about him. However, unless a person seeks help, there is little authorities can do until they actually do something. We are seeing more and more disturbed young men committing murder. The signs are there but people around them seem helpless to do anything. Two murders were committed recently in my state by another mentally ill young man. In a letter to our paper written by this man's parents, they alluded to having difficulty getting help for him. What can we do to prevent more of these horrible shootings? In a free society, that is a difficult question. At what point do we commit a mentally disturbed individual to an institution (hopefully to get help) when they haven't committed any crimes or indicated that they are planning any? How do we balance their rights and freedom with the protection of the rest of society? Does the right to bear arms really include automatic weapons or even handguns whose only purpose is to kill people? Should a mentally disturbed person have the right to buy a gun? Why don't we have more treatment facilities and funding for the mentally ill? These are questions that we citizens of the US will need to answer in the near future. Will anyone in Congress have the guts to deal with these questions honestly? I certainly hope so but I won't hold my breath.