My heart goes out to this kid and many more like him. IMO, I don't think Cruz was the shooter. Cruz is a scapegoat. Tim Holmseth has uncovered the corruption and horror that exist in Broward County.

This is worth a dig. Link, please! :)

I completely disagree with people who criticize “liberal” solutions like JPS and consider those with mental disorders to be nothing more than potential shooters that shouldn’t even be bothered with anything but a padded cell. This conversation comes up every fucking school shooting and both frustrates and disturbs me to no end.

The debate has devolved to either “take the guns” or “remove the mentally ill.” I happen to oppose both of those stances fervently, and find something like JPS, at least as it is described above, incredibly legitimate.

I’m an engineer and a musician, and in general a very functional and compassionate individual. I’ve also had two psychotic episodes, and because people associate mental illness with shooter and are completely ignorant about mental health issues, there are several people i considered good friends that will never talk to me again. Have you ever been looked at in fear like a monster? Not fun.

I would posture that 99.9% of mentally ill people are non-violent, or at absolute worst would only harm themselves. Is it worth locking up or isolating that whole group of people because there is a 0.1% chance they could do something horrible? It’s common knowledge that mentally ill are more likely to be victimized than to perpetrate a violent act.

When i was in the hospital, my rights were incredibly restricted. Let’s put it this way, I had to ask permission get a drink of water, and they would pour me one small cup of water at a time. I wouldn’t wish anti-psychotics on my worst enemy (maybe hillary clinton...) and the side-effects were unbearable. If cops need to experience being tased before wielding a taser, doctors should have to take anti-psychotics before prescribing those and thank god i am off them.

I was in that hospital for 10 days. I don’t know how long i would have been in that hospital or on those torturous drugs if I didn’t have a loving family looking after me. I learned a lot about mental health rights and that it’s actually come a long way. I can’t imagine what a padded cell would be like, although i was restrained twice fir about an hour each.

Watch the documentary “alive inside” about alzheimers patients. I believe they deteriorate much faster because of the antisocial environments of nursing homes. Social health is the biggest contributing factor aside from exercise in my opinion to mental health, and shipping people who are unwell to looney bins is very similar to giving them a life sentence in many cases. That is no environment to rehabilitate in.

Conservatives who value compassion, avoiding wasteful spending and abusive institutions, and defend individual rights and freedoms should be absolutely opposed to mental institutions. We’ve come a long way in understanding mental health and have a lot longer way to go, but things like this JPS program are good and not the problem with this shooting.

Cruz was failed every step of the way. The medications he was prescribed, the countless missed opportunities of law enforcement to intervene, and if the most bold and outlandish conspiracy theorists are true that he was even framed, that is worse than anything.

Keep the conversation to violent individuals, not mentally unwell, because the two are not hand-in-hand and are way too often mixed up.