More needless carnage
ANOTHER DEADLY combination of too many guns and too little mental healthcare has exploded in Washington state, where a 28-year-old man allegedly killed six people on a two-hour shooting rampage Tuesday. The tragic story could get lost in the week's focus on presidential politics, but the presidential campaign is precisely where these issues should be debated.
The suspect, Isaac Zamora, has been described by his mother as "desperately mentally ill." He had just completed a six-month jail term on cocaine possession charges in rural Skagit County, and had been living in nearby woods. Between suicide attempts, thefts, drug abuse, and threats to family members, Zamora had been in and out of mental hospitals, and jails, for years.
Criminal defendants often have multiple diagnoses, including drug or alcohol addictions, histories of abuse, depression, or other mental illnesses, and yet pre-incarceration screening and treatment for such conditions in state prisons is spotty at best.
Many people with untreated mental illness end up in homeless shelters or jail. Inadequate funding of mental-health beds, and complicated commitment laws, make it ever more difficult to provide treatment to those who need it. In fact, some mental health experts say getting arrested for a crime is the surest way for a person to get help. The US Bureau of Justice Statistics estimates that 16 percent of inmates in state prisons are mentally ill - some 225,000 people.
A devastating review of mental health data by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper in the wake of Tuesday's killings found "a largely disconnected system with multiple bottlenecks that mostly is driven by emergency or short-term care." But Washington state is not unique. The nation needs mental health parity laws that cover mental illness just like physical ailments. But since many with mental illness are unable to hold jobs with private insurance, public funds also must be sufficient to diagnose and treat anyone who needs it.
So far, both presidential candidates have skimmed over these issues, but they are pressing policy questions for debate.
And the other side of this lethal equation also demands attention. According to the Brady Campaign, Washington state has some of the most lax gun control laws in the country. There is no license, permit, or registration required to buy or own a handgun, and background checks are not automatically required for gun sales.
Zamora surrendered to police Tuesday and is being held on $5 million bail. How much grief could have been spared had this rageful man been saved from himself? 