One Third

 One third of military personnel will face a mental health crisis in their service. That’s one third of soldiers in garrison, one third of sailors on a cruise, and one third of personnel returning from a deployment. One third.

I was thinking about that in light of something that will be hard to write about. Gun control. Red flag laws. We have to be ultra careful in how we discuss mental health and firearms access. 

I keep hearing it's not a gun issue it's a mental health issue. What's that even mean? What mental illness, what specific set of diagnoses in the DSM is causing the issues with guns.

I say this because I have spent time with severely depressed, anxious people in high stress jobs I trusted to have a gun around me. I knew both their mental health status and their capability. With the constant nature of deployments, and the strain of constant training, mental health.

We need to be honest about what aspects of mental health result in someone being a danger to themselves or others. It’s not every mental struggle.

I agree that red flag laws can be effective when there’s overt dangers to address. When someone is making threats to self or to others. Exhibiting behavior. That’s what should be the criteria not just “mental health.”

I don’t know if I’m alone in this view or not. I just think scapegoating mental health as much as guns will be counterproductive to the changes we’re hoping to make. Someone can have depression, anxiety, an adjustment disorder, be bipolar, have PTSD and not pose any threat to themselves or others. Men don’t get help. They don’t get care. Let’s not conflate mental health struggles and dangerous behavior too much. They need to be distinct issues we tackle and address.