The mentally ill are not dangerous, in general....

[steve2470]

There is a very small subset of the mentally ill, particularly those with paranoid schizophrenia with command hallucinations, who are potentially dangerous.

Command hallucinations are simply voices telling the person to do something or not do something.

Of course, there is a subset of the "well-adjusted" who are also dangerous.

Those of us with good reality contact realize that taking Sarah Palin or Rush Limbaugh, etc. literally (reload is the worst example along with Second Amendment remedies) is not a good idea at all. However, to someone mentally ill or already prone to violence, it could be a trigger to violence.

What Rush is doing today is heinous, in the extreme. Of course, if someone DOES shoot the Sheriff of Pima County, he will claim his words or song (" I shot the sheriff") had no bearing on the tragedy.

[slackmaster]

1. Not dangerous, not violent, not vulnerable to manipulation by "messages" in the media

K&R

[H2O Man]

2. Correct.

Our culture denies that mental illness is a legitimate human experience. What Rush et al are doing is obscene.

Recommended.

[sharesunited]

3. Crazy is a right. Guns and ammo aren't.

[cbayer]

4. The chronically mentally ill are much more likely to be victims of violence than they

are perpetrators of violence. I hope this horrible episode opens the door for more debate and action in the way we treat people with psychiatric illness in this country.

K & R

[steve2470]

5. Agree completely

The mentally ill are the perfect victim: helpless to some degree and stigmatized.

[Catherina]

6. Thank you. It's no different than any other subset of the population n/t

[EFerrari]

7. What he's doing amounts to terrorizing people with a conscience

by raising the possibility of another assassination in the wake of last week's trauma.

He's a sociopath and I hope he winds up in prison.

[kestrel91316]

8. The mentally ill are often a danger TO THEMSELVES. To discount this

or ignore it is cruel to THEM.

[steve2470]

9. yes, I agree nt

[Lance_Boyle]

10. Handguns are also not dangerous, in general.

I mean, how many handguns are there out there and how many of those have been used to hurt people? Vanishingly small percentage, I'd say.

[Enthusiast]

11. You are so right on. nt

[astral]

12. There is 'diagnosed' and 'undiagnosed'

but really isn't it a matter of degree? Who is totally 100% sane? If you like to jump out of planes in parachutes I think you're nuts. I would not shun someone just because I know they are mentally ill, but I know some people believe themselves to be 'branded,' and by some they are, and they just don't bother trying to talk to anyone who is out side of their safe zone.

Remember with these shootings there is often no prior indication or 'red flag' about the person who goes off and kills people. Maybe they are on those antidepressants that cause homicidal and/or suicidal thoughts, forgot which ones those were. Usually that is not ever questioned or answered as it is a person's private business what legally-prescribed drugs they were taking.

Is being homicidal a mental illness? I would vote yes on that. How about being suicidal? Suicidal thoughts vs. attempts at suicide (failed or successful)? Overeating, alcohol / nicotine addiction / shopaholism . . . .

It is a fuzzy line and a slippery slope. The title of this thread interested me because I hate to see people get shunned because of known mental issues. Some people, I will admit, have such severe issues they are hard to even be around, so I am not saying I am being a saint about it either.