Treat the disease, not the weapon

Medieval doctors treated sword wounds with a lethal salve they applied to the offending sword. Medical historians believe patients were thereby saved. They say if the salve had been applied to the wound, it would have killed the patient for sure.

Now that gun wounds have supplanted sword wounds, I suppose it is only natural that some segments of society are ready to apply the cure to the guns, rather than deal with the insanity of the guy who pulls the trigger.

While mental patients may be overly susceptible to suggestions, real or imagined, must we then throttle all society from making suggestions? Must we keep guns out of the hands of everybody so a few maniacs can continue to roam the streets without treatment? Must everybody be put into a straitjacket to restrain the few? Wouldn't it be easier, and more humane, just to treat the offending patient, not his gun? Well, maybe not.

We've already closed the mental hospitals and multiplied the prisons. Millions of mentally ill homeless people exist

untreated and ignored. As we find ourselves drifting back to superstition and feudalism, it will take a monumental change of focus to begin treating mental patients with the respect, common sense, understanding, research, care and money we now lavish on lesser, less deadly diseases.

Hope Rogers

Vinton