Following the latest mass murder involving a semi-automatic assault weapon, the denier-in-chief took a few minutes to address the situation as reported by NBC News.

Asked at a joint press briefing with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe if he would consider pressing for gun control measures in the wake of America’s second mass shooting in a month, Trump said “mental health is your problem here,” calling the shooter a “very deranged individual” with “a lot of problems over a long period of time.”

Unfortunately, the shooter Devin Kelley is not the only person who fits this description.  The use of high-powered weapons IS a mental health issue.  To understand the basis for this assessment, one need only look at the list of “mental health symptoms” available from the Mayo Clinic.  These include:

Trouble Understanding and Relating to Situations and to People

Trump’s unfiltered response to current events demonstrate his  instincts are to use these situations to feed his own ego rather than to display empathy for the victims.  The Pulse was an opportunity to promote his bigoted ban on Muslim immigration although the perpetrator was a natural born U.S. citizen.  Using Hurricane Maria to pick a fight with the mayor of San Juan.  Questioning the integrity of Gold Star families.

Detachment from Reality, Paranoia or Hallucinations

In an August 22 article by the Washington Post fact-check team, they identified 1,057 instances in which Trump had out-right lied or misled the public since his inauguration.  That’s what I call detachment from reality!  And what is more paranoid than thinking you’ve been wire-tapped by a former president without a shred of evidence? Hallucinating?  How about seeing crowds that don’t exist?  Or fabricating meetings and phone calls that never took place? Or installing a plaque declaring his Virginia golf course as the site of a bloody Civil War battle although there is no record of such?

Withdrawal from Friends and Activities

Multiple media outlets have reported on how Trump prefers to spend time in the residence watching TV.  It seems the only companions he has left are the ones on Fox and Friends.

Confused Thinking or Reduced Ability to Concentrate

Whether he’s talking about “the amazing job” Frederick Douglass has done, reference to Andrew Jackson’s knowledge of the Civil War although Jackson died 16 years before the conflict began or climate change being a Chinese hoax, Trump’s inability to connect the dots and his lack of interest in ascertaining any real knowledge suggested we can expect more confused thinking in the future.

Excessive Anger and Hostility

The tweets speak for themselves.

So what does this have to do with Sutherland Springs, Las Vegas and Orlando?  In every one of these cases, the shooter clearly had mental issues.  In Texas, though unconfirmed, Kelley’s assault took place at the church at which his ex-in-laws worshiped. In Nevada, Stephan Paddock snapped following excessive gambling losses.  In Florida, Omar Mateen was compelled to punish gay individuals because he abhorred their behavior or because they enjoyed a lifestyle he could not have (yet to be determined).

Otherwise mentally healthy individuals snap everyday.  Most harm themselves or target their anger at an individual.  The difference between those people and Kelley, Paddock and Mateen was ACCESS TO ASSAULT WEAPONS.  For the supposed president of the United States to suggest the most recent shooting “isn’t a guns situation” demonstrates an inability to understand and relate to situations, confused thinking and detachment from reality.

One last point.  Trump made the point (probably fed to him by the NRA) a resident of Sutherland Springs grabbed his rifle and pursued Kelley.  This citizen deserves credit for putting his own life in danger to protect others.  But there is an important piece of information I’m waiting for.  Did the good Samaritan use an assault weapon?  My guess is he did not.  In other words, there are occasions when a “good guy with a gun” can make a difference.  But I challenge Trump or the NRA to share one instance in which the “good guy” used an AK-47 or similar weapon to neutralize a mass murderer.  A well-trained owner of a hunting rifle or handgun does not need a weapon of war to protect him/herself.

Consider the recent shooting at an suburban Denver Wal-Mart.  Several other shoppers pulled out their own guns.  But, according to the Los Angeles Times:

…police in Thornton, Colo., said that in this case the well-intentioned gun carriers set the stage for chaos, stalling efforts to capture the suspect in the Wednesday night shooting that killed three people.  None of the armed civilians fired their weapons, and the suspect managed to flee the store.

Bottom line.  Background checks are fine, but not when a person with a history of perfect mental health suddenly breaks down due to personal or professional issues.  No one should be entitled to own a weapon of mass killing.  Even Justice Antonio Scalia agreed in his majority opinion in District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), which struck down a ban on gun ownership, the decision did not prevent reasonable restrictions on the sale and use of such firearms.

Although we do not undertake an exhaustive historical analysis today of the full scope of the Second Amendment, nothing in our opinion should be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms.

There should be reasonable checks on the ability of anyone to access powerful instruments of death.  You never know when a person might snap and do something totally irrational.  That includes an individual who thinks Sutherland Springs “is not a guns situation.”

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP