You Can Say It's Mental Health, But It's Guns, Too.

 From this morning's Muncie Star-Press, Gunfire in kids' presence leads to recklessness, neglect arrest:

A Muncie man was arrested Thursday on allegations he fired gunshots — reportedly in the direction of "demons" his girlfriend said were haunting their eastside home — while in the presence of two children.

Donald Tyler Brown, 34, was preliminarily charged with two counts each of criminal recklessness and neglect of a dependent, and single counts of possession of meth and possession of paraphernalia.

The children told Delaware County sheriff's deputies they were recently visiting their mother at the home she shared with Brown, along Elliott Acres Drive, when Brown "confronted" a demon and began firing gunshots in a bedroom.

The children said they were instructed to flee the house — which their mother said had been built on an "ancient burial ground" — through a window. As they later rode in a vehicle driven by their mother, the children said, Brown fired additional gunshots out of the car's windows.

And one item of mental health needing addressed is the American fetishization of the gun. Are American men so underdeveloped they need their masculinity reinforced by the possession of firearms? 

Sexual Dysfunction and Gun Ownership in America: When Hard Data Meet a Limp Theory says probably not.

Which leaves me thinking we are a scared nation of sheep.

As someone with a history of depression, I knew we need better mental health in this country. We also need fewer guns, and no guns in the hands of the mentally ill. If I had had a pistol in hand back in 2009, I would not be here - however you may consider that a good thing or a bad thing.

As it looks now, the GOP is the party of death and destruction; the Democrats are the party of life and freedom from fear.

sch