Mass shootings like last Friday's attack on a Planned Parenthood clinic, in which three people died, and October’s slaughter in Roseburg, Oregon, where nine people were killed at a community college, almost always draw big headlines. But the issue then fades away—until the next shooting—because public policy seems permanently frozen over what, if anything, to do about the problem, especially when it comes to altering gun-control laws.
Yet there is another way to approach the issue: changing the laws regarding mental health treatment. Though it’s too early to know much about the mental health history of Robert Dear, the alleged Planned Parenthood shooter, the shootings in Roseburg—like the ones in Aurora, Colorado; Newtown, Connecticut; or Santa Barbara, California—all were perpetrated by people with histories of mental illness and arsenals of semi-automatic weapons. The issue has gained urgency in recent years as our streets and jails have overflowed with people suffering from mental issues. The question is: Would efforts to change treatment laws actually have an impact?
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