It appears that the man who killed 12 people in the Naval Yard in Washington DC was mentally disturbed. Most of the deliberate (as opposed to accidental) gun killings in the US are committed by sick people (by definition) who should be in safe environments where they can do no harm.

Back in the days of Reagan and Thatcher the conservatives hit on a great wheeze: close all the mental hospitals and turf the inmates out into the community for the community to look after as it may. Result? Large numbers of mentally ill people are living on the streets, their illnesses undiagnosed, uncared for and unmedicated. Most of the homeless are apparently ill in some respect or other. To those who hate government and refuse to pay tax this is just fine. The loss of a few lives to crazed gunmen is a small price to pay for lower tax. There are many noble churches and charities who spend time and money trying to do something about this, but it is unlikely that we will see a restoration of a decent and civilised regime for dealing with the mentally ill.

Epicureans believe in collective action to help the poor, the sick and the homeless, and are prepared to pay their fair share of taxation (and to give to charity) to help the sick and vulnerable.

Oh, and by the way, the shooter in Washington passed a gun purchase check in Virginia. So much for those!

Pay no attention to the hand-wringing about guns and disturbed people – nothing substantive will be done. Epicurus told us that you cannot control the future and cannot control the past, so try to be happy in the present. On this particular issue he is right – the cowboy culture and the laisser-faire attitude to mental illness are both firmly imbedded.