Compromise on gun legislation

It is good to know that congress in Washington is getting near a compromise on gun legislation. It may not please everybody, but at least it is a start to controlling the slaughter that has happened with high capacity guns.

Don Estep is publisher of the News Journal.

Also, it is good to know that more funding will go for mental health. Although I have my doubts that it is strictly a mental health problem, funding is still needed for mental health issues.

I ask, if this is a mental health issue, then why is it related only to males in America? Women have issues too, but they don’t shoot up the population. Neither are the males in other countries acting out and calling it a mental health problem.

I don’t pretend to know what triggers the mind when a mass shooter acts out. I did take a psychology course in college, but that was over 60 years ago. However, I spent seven years working at the Cumberland River Comprehensive Care Center.

While working there I learned a lot. I sat in on many group therapy sessions and consulted with several psychologists. My job was Mental Health Educator which meant I was mostly a public relations person.

However, orders came down to have a drug education position and I was assigned the task. I knew nothing about the harmful effects of drugs.

Because of that I was sent to the University of Georgia for training by a person from England who was called the leading authority on drugs.

Dr. Riley Elder and I attended the classes. I remember it well. It was 50 years ago and that was when the movie Godfather was released. We saw the movie at a theater in Athens.

After the training I was given a display kit that contained a variety of drugs sealed in a glass container and I used it to educate people on the harmful effects of the abuse of drugs.

I spoke to students in classrooms throughout the eight counties of southeastern Kentucky that the Center covered. My first talk was for a parents meeting at Felts school in north Corbin. At some of the talks I was accompanied by Dr. Elder or other staff.

People arrested for drug abuse were sent to us at the Center and I conducted the mandatory classes. There were some rough customers I had to deal with. I also spoke to civic clubs about drug abuse.

I’m not sure of the effects of my talks but students did like it when I would burn a substance that smelled like marijuana.

All of this to say that I understand the need for funding for mental health issues. I was there seeing the issues people were having and the difficulty of treating mental illness.

The majority of Americans favor legislation to control the killings that are taking place from guns. The new legislation will not prevent it from happening completely, but it will help and it is a start we have long waited for.