Quote Originally Posted by CoccoBill View Post
What would be more productive? If shootings are the disease, what are the symptoms?
I don't think either is 'the disease" or "the symptoms". Those are in the eye of the beholder. The variables are complex and exist within a dynamic framework.

If mental health is the disease and shootings are the symptoms, then wouldn't solving mental health stop shootings? Well, not really, at least not in achievable terms. The knowledge to solve the mental health problem is not comprehensive, and even where progress is made, some people will always fall through the cracks (this is unavoidable).

This reality may be one reason why self-defense and deterrence are such mainstays for humankind since the dawn of time. I may not know how to fix every problem, but I sure can stop somebody from making their ill ways harmful to me by protecting myself.