Universal Health Care and Gun Control

At the risk of being one of those people who uses a tragedy to push a political agenda, I'm blogging my thoughts on the subject.  One subject, because the two topics are connected.  Hear me out.

Let me get this out of the way first - if you don't want Universal Health Care because your tax dollars shouldn't support the lazy:  They already are.  The tiny percentage of Welfare people who are truly lazy and the do-nothings in office are already using your tax dollars for their Viagra.  UHC, on the other hand,  would help that couple who are working two jobs each to pay the bills (including student loans), the widow of a soldier who is working her way through college, and the guy with a temporary lapse in employment...  all of whom the Welfare department rule ineligible for benefits.

In the wake of the recent school shooting in Florida, the debate on Gun Control is back in force.  The hard-liners on both sides shout so loudly we shades-of-gray folks get drowned out.  The fact of the matter is simple:  both sides are correct, but only to a point.  Banning AK47s is not going to stop the determined, but it might slow them down.  The Second Amendment does exist, but like most things held sacred, is subject to interpretation.

Here's where I get to the connection.  Lots of Gun Control Advocates like to hold up other countries as a model - Nogunlandia has only had 1 mass shooting in 57 years!  Going by statistics, Nogunlandia likely also has UHC.

Every shooter I've heard of has been mentally ill and not getting proper treatment.  (The anti-prozac folks made sure I heard about that.)

I'm not foolish enough to believe UHC would stop every incident.  There will always be those who won't or can't seek help.  There will be, and probably have been, shooters who are not mentally ill.  However, I believe that proper and timely treatment of mental illness, especially the nascently dangerous, would go a long way toward that goal.

My own experience with mental illness has taught me that the existing system will not help you unless you can pay and/or have commited a crime.  Far too many doctors toss pills at the problem without educating or following up with the patient.  UHC would at least help with the first problem.

It is my considered opinion that Universal Health Care would prevent mass shootings.  No one thing is going to be a cure-all, but it could be a cure-most.