To The Reader’s Forum:

Recently you printed an editorial regarding mass shootings and mental illness. While we all agree that someone who would kill random people is mentally ill, blaming the illness is not going to solve our problem in this country.

The United States, I am sure, has no higher number of cases of mental illness than any other developed countries, yet we are the only developed country that has this level of mass shootings.

The only reason that is different in this country than in the others, is the easy availability of guns.

We’ve all heard the adage “guns don’t kill people, people kill people” but guns give them the ability to kill massive numbers at one time.

Guns also make it possible for someone to do killings anonymously. The man who killed 58 people with a high powered rifle from a hotel stories above the crowd could not have done so with a knife, drive by’s can only be done with a gun not with a knife.

Yes, mental illness needs recognition and those in need, need our help, but the only way we will stop mass killings is by removing the weapon that makes them possible.

Candace Huber

Jamestown