Yes, there is an issue with guns in this country. No doubt. As a friend said recently, you need not carry a semi-automatic weapon, wear bullet-proof body armor and carry 10 clips to kill Bambi.

A 12 gauge will do just fine.

However, in the wake of the tragic shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, mental health care is being mentioned on networks that get it.

President Obama has called for “meaningful action” and as Fox News – and all followers of the network – want to run and lock up their guns because that surely means the government is coming for them, other people, like Joan Walsh, are sticking to the real issue.

And that issue, mental health care, has had negative perceptions (stigmata) placed upon it for decades and the need for such care ought to promoted, supported.

This country ought to make mental health care a prominent issue because there’s one party continually sweeping it under the rug.

Whether Republicans ignore it or completely defund it, the promotion of mental health care is often left in the dust. And that is sad.

Sad because a better mental health care system, gone the bad connotations associated with it, would go a long way in helping troubled human beings. Maybe with more positive views of mental health care person would feel better in seeking help they need. Maybe if there were more facilities in the country where people could turn to it would bring down the numbers of troubled human beings who feel so alone with nowhere to turn to.

Republicans have been known to discredit mental illness. Well, again, facts escape the factless party.

Again, here’s a call to people to focus on what might drive a person to grab a gun – or knife or just their bare hands – and kill a person or more than one person.

Mental illness is as real as a weapon. If we were to concentrate on helping those who feel lost, alone, abandoned or misguided, we might erase the need for a weapon in their minds.

However, I suppose the Republicans in this country will continue to screw minds with their “gonna take them guns away” bullshit to the point where we see this type of tragedy on TV every single day… all for the NRA.

Really?

Gun control is not the issue here. It is a issue.

The issue is mental health care and the need to improve it.

And just to prove mental health care isn't a priority, let's look at South Carolina... where two Republicans want to allow people who can legally buy guns to carry them without having concealed weapons permits.

http://www2.wsav.com/news/2012/dec/14/bill-would-allow-south-carolinians-carry-guns-with-ar-5172168/