Seattle Shootings

Shootings have been in the news. Last week's "rampage" by Ian Stawicki and just today with a drive-by in South Seattle.

This year's shootings have already added up to more than the total shootings for last year-and it's only June! I don't know what is contributing to the spike in shootings-the economical climate or access to guns but it's a lot different hearing the news when I live so much closer to the "city" than I did before.

A little over a year ago I was living down in the South Sound and Seattle was a faraway metropolis-like Gotham City. I hardly entered the city limits and when I did the swathes of homeless and trolling cops would rankle my nerves. I even witnessed a foot chase where the offender tossed a bag of drugs before the cops tackled him to the ground!

Nowadays I'm in Seattle at least once a week and the fiance even classifies us as living in the "Seattle-Metro area," bah humbug! That said, while the recent events twanged a nerve I don't feel exceedingly scared or upset...

Yes, I'm upset at the life lost but I don't feel upset like the people ranting and raving about gun control in the wake of last week's shootings.

My fiance made an excellent point-gun controls were in place and they didn't stop this guy and they certainly don't stop the thugs from getting their guns. But what wasn't in place was adequate mental health services to manage Stawicki's precarious mental state.

His family commented that Stawicki's rampage was expected. They weren't surprised to hear the news at all! This isn't insensitive, it's honest.

I have been in their position, resigning myself to an unstable mental climate because I didn't have access to adequate care. To me, that is the tragedy behind these deaths.

The gun control crowd can cry for sanctions all they want-but if people are mentally unstable it doesn't matter whether the weapon has a trigger or a handle or a shaft or a knob, they will harm someone else or themselves.

Right now I'm thinking of those families and friends that are coping with the loss of their loved ones and I'm hoping that all those in need of mental health care can find what they need before more tragedy strikes.