Adam Lanza and Guns in the United States

Adam Lanza was a 20-year-old young man with mental illness. Adam Lanza lived home with his mother who was an enthusiast of guns. Adam Lanza's mother had a variety of guns in their home that weren't properly locked away. What's wrong with this picture?

This picture is very wrong. Mental illness and guns don't mix. I'm not saying that every mentally ill person would misuse guns, if they got the chance. I'm saying that when you have a person with severely impaired judgment handling guns, there's a good chance that bad things will happen.

The rest is history. We know that Adam Lanza shot his mother dead with a gun. Then went to a Connecticut elementary school and massacred 20 children and six adults with an arsenal of guns he brought to the school. Then as authorities closed in on Adam Lanza, he turned a gun on himself and took his own life.

Unfortunately, some people are using this tragedy as a political football. They're screaming for human rights to be taken away from United States citizens. They're using this single tragedy as proof that all United States citizens are too irresponsible to own guns and live their lives. They're demanding that the United States government should completely take over the lives of its citizens, enslaving them.

I don't think enslaving United States citizens is the answer. Thank God, only a very small percentage of people mass murder in the United States. And thank God mass murder is rare. That's why mass murder is huge news when it does happen.

In the United States, people are free. They're free to make decisions. And with freedom comes responsibility. So it's very important that each person conduct himself in a responsible manner. And if they don't, they should be punished accordingly.

I used to work at a group home of mentally ill individuals. During my time there, the staff members kept knives and other sharp objects locked up. They had a very good reason for doing this.