To the Editor:
I congratulate and thank The Times for the courage to expose the well-crafted scapegoat that people with mental illness are responsible for the American epidemic of large-scale gun carnage. It is a myth perpetuated by the National Rifle Association with the oft-parroted phrase, “It’s people, not guns.”
The prevalence of mental illness is essentially the same worldwide; the obscene scale of gun ownership is unique to the United States, including personal stockpiles of military-style weapons. During a 50-year career as a psychiatrist practicing in the inner city, I treated dozens of psychotic individuals with delusions that included plans to harm themselves or people known to them, but none fit the profile of the indiscriminate killers you describe.
The only sane cure for our nation’s malaise will be to rescind the Second Amendment and ban the personal possession of all guns not designed exclusively for the hunting of animals, not humans.
BARRY BLACKWELL
Milwaukee
Note from KBJ: We're more likely to rescind Barry Blackwell than to rescind the Second Amendment. Do you have any other ideas, Barry?
