NUGENT: Nut control, not gun control – Washington Times

NUGENT: Nut control, not gun control – Washington Times.

Failure to deal with mental illness leads to massacres

By Ted Nugent – The Washington Times

In the wake of the massacre in Aurora, Colo., the left has once again resorted to clamoring for further restrictions on the right of law-abiding citizens to own guns and defend ourselves — even in the face of inescapable evidence that such restrictions are at the root cause of such slaughters.

The misguided left believes that more gun control will somehow magically stop psychotic nuts hell-bent on going on a killing spree. As usual, they are dead wrong.

According to the kind, caring and considerate left, you have every right to be a crazy druggie and roam the streets with no means of support. Heck, they even help nut-jobs occupy Wall Street and beyond. Surely, the unarmed and helpless will someday bring peace to the world, end world hunger and Rodney King’s dream of everyone getting along will become a reality. No wonder they call it dope.

Years ago the left clamored that mental institutions violated the rights of those with mental illnesses. The American Civil Liberties Union even sued on their behalf. The result was the doors of the cuckoo nests were flung open and the patients stumbled out.

Now they are everywhere. You can’t visit any city in America without encountering dirty people who are severely mentally impaired roaming the streets. Pushing shopping carts, mumbling to themselves, sleeping under bridges or in parks and basically being a nuisance, they ultimately endanger themselves. Most are not violent, just certifiably crazy by anyone’s standards.

But some of the psychotics are violent. Some believe they’re comic book characters and can’t tell the difference between fantasy and reality.

James Holmes, the sole suspect in the shooting, was under the care of a psychiatrist at the University of Colorado Denver. No one knows what the psychiatrist thought of the Joker. The records of their conversations are patient-client confidential, and so far the psychiatrist isn’t talking.

Granted, we don’t yet know the bizarro behavior of the Joker leading up to massacre, but we should begin trying to put together the obvious puzzle.

Even a whack-job like the Joker probably had a few friends or associates. What did they think about him? What did his parents, teachers and fellow graduate students think of him in the weeks or months preceding the massacre? It is difficult to believe that everyone who knew him thought he was just your average, normal guy.

There was, however, one guy who was concerned — so concerned that he refused to let the Joker join the Lead Valley Range gun club. It’s hard to believe he was the only guy who found the Joker’s words, phrases and conduct to be bizarre.

When the truth comes out, I predict the Joker’s pattern of behavior should have landed him in a padded room instead of a movie theater. We will to listen to the professional apologists tell us how he “slipped through the cracks.” So typical.

It’s time we begin to restrict the rights of psychotic nuts like the Joker instead of law-abiding citizens.

Yet, instead of having a national discussion on making it easier to lock up psychotics, the left would much rather discuss restricting the rights of law-abiding citizens to own guns and defend ourselves. Passing additional gun laws may make the left feel good, but it won’t do good. The left’s “treatment plan” of more gun control won’t work, and anyone with an ounce of common sense knows it. What the left’s plan will ensure is more massacres at the hands of psychotics like the Joker.

The real discussion that needs to occur in America is how we finally throw off the shackles of political correctness, quit worrying about “feelings” and simply restrict the rights of psychotics by making it easier to lock them up for their safety and the safety of others.

Advocating additional gun laws and gun-free zones is crazy. Crazy talk like that can get you killed.

Ted Nugent is an American rock ‘n’ roll, sporting and political activist icon. He is the author of “Ted, White, and Blue: The Nugent Manifesto” and “God, Guns & Rock ‘N’ Roll” (Regnery Publishing).