Guns and mental illness | The Salt Lake Tribune

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

A woman in North Stonington, Conn., took her husband's gun and murdered her two grandsons (ages 2 and 6 months), then killed herself. Her mental illness was well-known in her family ("Woman kills 2 grandsons, self on toddler's birthday," Tribune, Feb. 28).

So who is responsible? The woman? She was mentally ill.

As harsh as it sounds, I say her husband. He undoubtedly bought a gun to protect his family, and it ended up destroying his family.

Can we all agree that if you have a mentally ill person or a person with diminished mental capacity living in your home, you shouldn't own a gun? This should be a law. You can't have it both ways.

When I grew up in the 1950s and 1960s, machine guns were illegal. Now our own U.S. Sen. Mike Lee is saying that civilians need high-capacity ammunition clips! What happened to common sense?

I've owned guns and enjoy shooting. Shamefully, guns have become icons, and Christians and churches are silent about this perversion of the teachings of Jesus.

Roger E. Carrier

Sandy