It's the Mental Illness

Woman showed up at Charleston school intending to kill, police say

The woman arrested with a loaded pistol outside a downtown private school Monday was trying to kill people, but she couldn’t get the gun to fire, according to Charleston police. Alice Boland, a 28-year-old Beaufort woman with a history of mental illness, was arrested at Ashley Hall on Rutledge Avenue.

Mental illness is the common denominator in most, if not all, of the horrific killings that we have suffered. I only say most because I don't have scientific evidence to back it up - most likely it's all. And most of the time people who have come into contact with the person will remember that, yes, that person had a serious problem. But what can you do? I knew a guy who - if he had a gun - I have no doubt would have used it to kill someone - at least. And I'm not the only one who thought so. All his co-workers knew, his neighbors, and at least two police officers that I knew - more actually, because they also had been called to his house by neighbors. I personally spoke on several occasions to the 2 police officers and there is nothing that can be done unless he does something illegal.

I don't pretend to have the answer about what to do for people like this but I know it's not leave them alone. Psychiatric hospitals can be a sensitive subject but I believe they have a role in helping to curb this problem. There are homeless people right now that need one, the majority of the long term homeless are mentally ill. We need to be helping these people, not putting them out on the street to fend for themselves. And we need to figure out a way to get help for those who are obviously not right in the head but managing to live in society. It's hard, a lot harder than banning guns. But banning guns is not the answer.