I’m writing in response to the Oct. 24 Columbian online story “Weapons cases not unknown at schools: County has seen 3 other incidents in past year.” Once again the media is choosing to focus on weapons as the issue in these recent and many instances of school violence. This sends the public into a panic over the weapons used and a demand for stricter gun control legislation.
The psychologist who is evaluating 11-year-old Quincy Tuttle said he has severe mental health issues while his lawyer denies having knowledge of a diagnosed condition. If his condition is, in fact, severe and he has not received care, this lack of mental health care for violent kids is the problem we should be focused on. The effort in preventing these incidents from recurring should be in ensuring access to mental health resources.
Young men convicted in these types of crimes will go to prison on weapons charges where they will still be denied adequate mental health care. Increasing gun control legislation will only add to the list of crimes these boys are being convicted of and will do nothing to prevent the crime in the first place.
Amanda Cole
Vancouver
