Treating mentally ill only solution

Brace for inevitable inaction? (May 27 editorial). What would you advocate to stop this kind of tragedy? Go after guns again?

No one can dispute that the shooting rampage near University of California, Santa Barbara. was a tragedy. I can only imagine the pain that the father of Michael Martinez is going through. Three people died by guns, but let’s not forget that three were also killed by knives. It’s time to stop blaming guns for all the violence. If someone is killed in a car accident, do we blame the car? Where do we put the blame for the victims of knives?

This should tell you that if someone is mentally unbalanced and is bent on killing they will find a way, be it a gun, knife, or a baseball bat or a car. It’s time to recognize that mental illness is to blame. It’s time to get treatment for people like that. In this case the perpetrator also tried to kill two people on bikes, are we going to out law cars for this kind of act? Wake up people and put the blame where it belongs, mental illness, plain and simple.

Chuck Heinitz

Snohomish

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