Address mental health to end mass shootings: Your Say

The connection between mental illness and mass shootings resurfaced in a case involving a father whose 40-year-old son is accused of shooting and killing four family members. Comments from Facebook are edited for clarity and grammar:

I understand the father's love for his child, but when he allowed his son to move back in with him, he was in serious denial that endangered his other family members.

— Simon Mouer

He tried to get his son committed to an institution. What else could he have done?

— Marcus M. Long

There are medications that can control adverse behavior. But they only work if the person with the disease is willing to take them. Because of past abuses by family members and the mental health care system (locking someone up because they are inconvenient or willful instead of mentally ill), individuals cannot be forced to take medication. They also can't be forced into institutional care until they commit crimes, even if it's blatantly obvious that they are in need of care.

In this case, the father attempted to get help for his son.

If the father had kicked his son out, as some are suggesting, then the father would have been blamed when/if his son had committed this crime against someone else.

— Sabrina Akins

We need the stigmas regarding mental illness to go away. We need a place for both the stricken and their families to get help. No one chooses this, and there is no support for those who are not well. This must change.

— Jónina Nelson

In a perfect world, we would know what is going to happen and prevent it. Aside from the difficult task of meeting the criteria for a permanent hold, there are few available beds in the mental health system. Funding isn't there. I've seen many beg to get help, only to be denied because there is no room. The mental health system is worse than the prison system.

— Tawnya Jo Hubbard