[muglug]

I think the cost of healthcare has something to do with it, but surely the culprit is the gun culture that's everywhere you look the moment you leave big coastal cities. The culture that says - "feel threatened? Reach for your gun!"

Also, second what other people are saying - I'm so sorry you were hurt for so long. I hope that you stick around a while, continuing to advocate online for the trans community.

[OpenBSD-reich]

Oh please. Guns are no more the root of gun violence than BitTorrent is the root of digital piracy. Gun control is the cheap easy path to kudos and biscuits, where improving the mental health system is the long tiring hardwork nobody wants to do. Muslim examples in Europe have shown vehicles and knives to be just as effective.

Last but not least, if you vote away my hobby/toy, don't whine like a little piggy when I rally others to vote away your hobby/toy. Government is force which should be used sparingly and responsibly.

[DanBC]

> Muslim examples in Europe have shown vehicles and knives to be just as effective

No they haven't. This is a bizarre misrepresentation of the scale of gun violence in the US, and obviously access to guns causes gun violence.

[pjc50]

> Muslim examples

As you've almost spotted, the problem is one of radicalisation rather than either gun ownership per se or mental health. Other countries have guns. Other countries have people with depression or PTSD. Mass shootings in other countries are generally correctly labelled as terrorism. But people are unwilling to realise that the American mass shooting problem is one of terrorism.

[cheez]

Do you think the people driving trucks into people have no mental health issues?

[pjc50]

Some of them, probably. But not necessarily all of them, and I don't think it's a necessary precondition. I've certainly not heard of very many suicide bombers or mass shooters that had diagnosed but unmanaged mental health conditions.

Is someone having political beliefs that they're willing to die/kill for a sign of mental illness?

[cheez]

> Is someone having political beliefs that they're willing to die/kill for a sign of mental illness?

I think you're making an assumption that this is what is happening. What do unsuccessful, captured suicide bombers say?

[pjc50]

There are a few of these: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/a-conversation-wit...

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/raza-rumi/an-interview-with-a...