College Shootings

President Bush fails to show presidential leadership on college campus shootings.

What must happen before the federal laws are changed?

It would appear that every six months or so another mentally ill person stops taking their medication, goes on a killing spree and then kills innocent victims. Our Colleges and Universities are open to the public. The laws are designed to protect violently mentally ill people’s privacy and their rights over that of future victims. We have sex offenders, murders and violent students sitting next to our college age children who have never been exposed to these types of people in their lives. From the time our children are born until they get out of high school we try everything we know to protect them from predators but then in college we throw them into an area where these types of predator hunt for their next victim. Our children are totally unprepared for this type of environment and they are getting killed. All you have to do is go onto your local sex offender website and type in the address of you local college to see where a large number of these predators live in you own town or city. Why are we not demanding that these people are monitored to make sure that they take their medicine and see a professional so that they do not harm our college age children? Why do we allow them to purchase guns and knives? Why are there not requirements about where and how they may attend public colleges and universities? How many more of our best and brightest must die before the federal government takes steps to stop the killing?

I work in a local college and I can tell you that it is not a safe place to send your children. Three years ago I was followed home and stalked by a mentally ill student. No one could image the fear or helplessness that I felt. There are no laws to prevent this type of behavior. I am by far not the only college employee that has ever had to deal with this problem. The college that I work at could do nothing to help because of the laws protecting mentally ill student’s privacy. It is true we need presidential leadership when it comes to these problems. Something that President Bush is completely unable to achieve. It is not a matter of gun control for healthy individuals. I am a legal gun owner and support the right to own guns but we must keep weapons out of the hands of mentally ill individuals. I personally think the violently mentally ill should have less control over their own treatment and medication than normal healthy individuals. The government is violating their human rights by allowing them to put themselves into the position where they stop taking medication and end up in prison for live because they kill people or worse kill themselves as well. How can lawmakers in their right minds think that violently mentally ill individuals should have control over their own treatment?