Inaction Poll

From GMA:
"Most see inaction on mass shootings; mental health screening is a priority (POLL)"

Large majorities of Americans say neither President Donald Trump nor Congress are doing enough to try to prevent mass shootings like the one that took 17 lives in Parkland, Florida, last week, with improved mental health screening and treatment leading the public’s preferences for action. Most in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll, 58 percent, say stricter gun laws could have prevented the Valentine’s Day massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. But which laws remains an open question: A ban on assault weapons still splits the country evenly, with no change from 2016.Far more, 77 percent, say better mental-health monitoring and treatment could have prevented the Parkland shooting. Much lower on the list is allowing teachers to carry guns, called an “opportunity and an option” by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos last week. Forty-two percent think this could have prevented the killings. Desire for action is evident in this poll, produced for ABC News by Langer Research Associates: Seventy-seven percent of Americans say Congress is not doing enough to try to stop such shootings, and 62 percent say the same of Trump. Large numbers feel “strongly” that action to date has been inadequate -- 59 percent in the case of Congress, 50 percent as to Trump. The public’s especially broad endorsement of improved mental health screening and treatment is in line with another result: Americans by a 2-to-1 margin blame mass shootings mainly on problems identifying and treating people with mental health problems, rather than on inadequate gun control laws. Still, compared with a 2015 ABC News/Post survey, somewhat fewer mainly blame mental health screening (down 6 points) and somewhat more blame inadequate gun control laws (up 5 points). Greater concern about mental health screening over gun laws was 63-23 percent then, vs. 57-28 percent now. Support for mental health surveillance also was evident in a 2011 ABC News/Post survey after the shooting of then-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz. An overwhelming 83 percent supported increased funding for a system to report individuals treated for mental illness to the federal database used to screen gun purchases. Banning assault weapons -- the alleged shooter in Parkland wielded a semiautomatic AR-15-style rifle -- remains more divisive, with 50 percent in support, 46 percent opposed. That’s almost identical to a 51-48 percent division in June 2016, after a gunman killed 49 at an Orlando nightclub. Results have ranged over time from a high of 80 percent support for an assault weapons ban in mid-1994 and a recent high of 58 percent in January 2013, to a low of 45 percent in late 2015.

^ I don't think there is a simple solution to stop school and mass shootings. Schools should have trained armed guards (maybe former veterans or police men/women) protecting the students and staff. Any tips made to the FBI, police, etc. that calls into question the violent tendencies of someone should immediately be red-flagged and investigated. There needs to be a nation-wide, more stringent background checks system that also includes searching for any mental-health related issues. Doctors who prescribe medicines or treatment for those with mental health problems should have to report that to some sort of government system the same way most now have to report those who get opioid prescriptions. Police should be trained and allowed to enter places when a shooter is active - in schools, hotels, etc. Those are just a few ideas I had. I don't have the answers to everything (it would be nice if I did) but it's a start then simply focusing on one thing when there are multiple areas that need to be addressed. No matter what you can not completely stop someone if they are dead serious and so we need to come up with not only preventative measures, but also measures that should be followed during an active shooting situation. I don't really think a lock-down at a school or having drills that show exactly what would happen during an attack is such a great idea. Most shooters are either former students or current students and so would know exactly what the school and staff were going to do and could plan ways around it. It would be nice to see all Americans (politicians - Republicans, Democrats and Independents, first responders, businesses, large event coordinators, school officials, doctors and ordinary people) could talk about fixing this problem instead of chatting the same old slogans they have in the past. Once they do that no side listens anymore and we "forget" and do nothing until there is another shooting in then it starts all over again. ^

https://www.yahoo.com/gma/most-see-inaction-mass-shootings-mental-health-screening-100000553--abc-news-topstories.html