Franken pushes mental-health bill to reduce firearm violence

duluthnewstribune.com ^ | January 10, 2013 | John Lundy

[Tailgunner Joe]

Mental-health professionals, not more guns, are the way to address school violence, Sen. Al Franken said on Wednesday.

The Minnesota Democrat, in Duluth to announce legislation related to mental health, said he hasn’t seen support for proposals to arm teachers or place armed guards in schools.

“In the discussion that I’ve had with Minnesota teachers and school officials, they don’t think that’s the solution,” Franken said after a news conference at the Federal Building in Duluth. “There’s agreement in the educational community in Minnesota … that we need more counselors, and we need more mental-health professionals in our schools.”

The Dec. 14 slaying of 26 people, including 20 children, at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., has reawakened discussion about school safety. The National Rifle Association proposed placing armed guards in schools. In Minnesota, state Rep. Tony Cornish, R-Vernon Center, said he’ll introduce a bill to allow teachers to carry weapons.

Franken, who met with school officials in Eagan on Monday, said addressing mental-health issues early would be a better investment.

The earlier mental-health issues are addressed, the less likely they’ll be to result in violent

behavior later on, Franken said. But Minnesota lags in providing counselors, he said. The state’s high schools have one mental-health counselor for every 780 students, ranking 48th in the country in that category, he said.

The legislation Franken announced on Wednesday deals with mental-health issues when they lead to criminal behavior. Co-authored with U.S. Rep. Richard Nugent, R-Fla., the legislation would:

Authorize investment in veterans treatment courts, which serve arrested veterans who suffer from post-traumatic stress, substance addiction and other mental-health conditions.

Support police academies including curricula on mental-health issues.

Extend the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act, first passed in 2004, for another five years, continuing federal support for mental-health courts and crisis intervention teams.

Franken said the bill is an attempt to favor treatment rather than incarceration for those who are mentally ill. He cited an estimate by Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek that up to 30 percent of inmates in county jails have mental illnesses.

“Of course, we want to put people who are violent in prison,” Franken said. But treatment is more effective and less costly than prison for the mentally ill who are nonviolent, he said.

[SaraJohnson]

Exactly. This is another brick in the Marxist wall for transforming the US into the Soviet nightmare.

[Washi]

“In the discussion that I’ve had with Minnesota teachers and school officials, they don’t think that’s the solution,” Franken said after a news conference at the Federal Building in Duluth.

Is Franken really so stupid that he relies on the opinions of teachers and school officials on matters of security and defense, or does he just hope that his constituents are really that stupid.

This argument from the left that "more guns in the schools are not the answer" infuriates me. The politicians spouting that argument have to be smart enough to know that disarming all of the good guys AND ADVERTISING THE FACT THAT THE GOOD GUYS ARE UNARMED is ludicrous. Yet, they know that the touchy-feely idiots that voted them into office will fall for it.

[Vaduz]

The ACLU sued the gubment and mand it illegal to incarceration crazy people in the Reagan era.
Boy that worked out didn’t it.

[hummingbird]

"I should have said stopping cars. But there was a cat lying on top of me and I mistyped."

Works either way, I guess!

HA!

[antidisestablishment]

More worthless counseling is NOT the answer! The Mental Health industry is filled with charlatans.
I would say that 30% of inmates having mental health problems is probably a low estimate, but we don’t have anywhere else to house them. Violent and potentially violent crazies need to be committed. Long-term mental hospitals are needed for insane people who are a danger to themselves or society.

My greatest concern is that the mental health profession is headed by perverts, and the asylums are run by the inmates. Today, people who adhere to a traditional moral stance are more likely to be committed than perverted sociopaths or dangerous psychopaths.