Letter: Research mental health issues, not guns

Regarding the editorial “Time for gun research,” from the Columbian (TCH, Aug. 28). This is yet another example of deflecting and placing the blame in the wrong place.

For decades, our country has ignored many mental health issues. We don’t need to understand why guns are used in violent acts, especially suicides. We need to determine the underlying cause for such behavior. Sweden has almost half as many guns as the U.S., yet we have 18 times as many shootings, so guns are not the only problem.

With research dollars in high demand and short supply, we would do well to spend those dollars to try to determine why so many people want to take their own lives. If they are determined to take their own lives, there are many options available to them that don’t require a gun.

To attempt to remove guns from public ownership because a few criminal and mentally ill misuse them would be tantamount to removing all cars from our roads because we have a lot of bad drivers, and it has about the same probability of succeeding.

This story was originally published September 16, 2016 at 3:57 AM with the headline "Letter: Research mental health issues, not guns."