Closing Mental Institutions Made Us More Vulnerable to Mass Shootings

[GURPS]

We often encounter these severely mentally ill individuals camped out in libraries, parks, hospital emergency rooms, and train stations, and sleeping in cardboard boxes. They annoy passersby with their sometimes intimidating panhandling.

The disgusting quality of life of many of the mentally ill makes a mockery of the lofty predictions made by the advocates of shutting down mental institutions and transferring their function to community mental health centers, or CMHCs.

Torrey writes:

The evidence is overwhelming that this federal experiment has failed, as seen most recently in the mass shootings by mentally ill individuals in Newtown, Conn., Aurora, Colo., and Tucson, Ariz. It is time for the federal government to get out of this business and return the responsibility, and funds, to the states.​

Getting the federal government out of the mental health business may be easier said than done.

A 1999 Supreme Court ruling in the case of Olmstead v. L.C. held that under the Americans with Disabilities Act, individuals with mental disabilities have the right to live in an integrated community setting rather than in institutions.


Closing Mental Institutions Made Us More Vulnerable to Mass Shootings

 

[Sapidus]

You posted this article before and it was pointed out to you that none of the mass shooters would have been in one of these institutions.

 

[mAlice]

We often encounter these severely mentally ill individuals camped out in libraries, parks, hospital emergency rooms, and train stations, and sleeping in cardboard boxes. They annoy passersby with their sometimes intimidating panhandling.

The disgusting quality of life of many of the mentally ill makes a mockery of the lofty predictions made by the advocates of shutting down mental institutions and transferring their function to community mental health centers, or CMHCs.

Torrey writes:

The evidence is overwhelming that this federal experiment has failed, as seen most recently in the mass shootings by mentally ill individuals in Newtown, Conn., Aurora, Colo., and Tucson, Ariz. It is time for the federal government to get out of this business and return the responsibility, and funds, to the states.​

Getting the federal government out of the mental health business may be easier said than done.

A 1999 Supreme Court ruling in the case of Olmstead v. L.C. held that under the Americans with Disabilities Act, individuals with mental disabilities have the right to live in an integrated community setting rather than in institutions.


Closing Mental Institutions Made Us More Vulnerable to Mass Shootings

They should have never been closed. They certainly needed strict oversight, but not total closure.

 

[GURPS]

.. and it was pointed out to you that none of the mass shooters would have been in one of these institutions.

 

[Bird Dog]

You posted this article before and it was pointed out to you that none of the mass shooters would have been in one of these institutions.

....just like all of the other BS tripe you would say will stop mass shootings, but to use your logic....even if it stops one shooter isn't it worth the incarceration of a million mental messes?

It would definitely help the homeless problem though.

 

[vraiblonde]

They should have never been closed. They certainly needed strict oversight, but not total closure.

This ^^

All that "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" stuff freaked people out and now there's nothing for the crazy people except to wander the streets and be a danger to themselves and others. Not only are the violent ones a problem for the public, but the non-violent ones become crime victims themselves. Mass shooters aside, mental illness to the point that you cannot care for yourself and have lost your rationality is a bit different than being blind or deaf or some other handicap that can be overcome to live a productive life. It disgusts me that the Man would lump them in together under "disability" because they are not even remotely close to the same thing.

I'm not sure why anyone thought it was a good idea to dump these people out on the streets.

 

[vraiblonde]

You posted this article before and it was pointed out to you that none of the mass shooters would have been in one of these institutions.

Well, wrong, Ace. The Cruz kid would have absolutely been a candidate for institutionalization. Of course, that would mean the cops would have to actually take action instead of trying to massage their juvenile crime rates, per Barack Obama's directive.