When a terrible incident like Newtown occurs, we should use the tragedy to openly address the real cause, which is mental illness. Adam Lanza, Dylan Klebold, Eric Harris, James Holmes, Jared Loughner, Seung Hui Cho and 55 others worldwide share one commonality mental illness.

Unscrupulous politicians in both parties are quick to blame guns because they want to disarm America. For them it's about people control from cradle to grave! Punishing the masses for the sins of a few is not the America our forefathers envisioned. Our forefathers, as English Subjects enslaved by King George, knew that kings and dictators punished dissention and fear reprisal so they disarm their citizenry. That's why we have the Bill of Rights.

Laws and fear of punishment mean nothing to a violent mentally disturbed person! Our jails and prisons are full of them. All these murderous rages were preceded by warning signs which went unnoticed or ignored. These perpetrators seem to share an affliction toward violent computer games, have antisocial personalities, make threats, leave hints of their intentions, focus on bazaar behavior, suicide, etc. Though law enforcement may be aware of an individual's propensity for violence, they are helpless to intervene until a crime is committed. School authorities don't report bizare behavior for fear of violating disability laws, right to privacy laws, discrimination laws and threatened lawsuits by overprotective parents. These federally protected categories have promulgated this violence.

According to authorities, Adam Lanza was at the school the previous day and a confrontation occurred between four faculty members and Lanza which went unreported. Their failure to report that encounter costs three of the four faculty members their lives and the lives of those children. Sadly, similar scenarios occur frequently at all schools and generally nothing happens, but when it does there are always causalities.

So what can we do to stop this nonsense? Get rid of federally protected categories, make mental health services available and at reasonable cost, require private insurance coverage for mental health services, classify mental illness as a disease and not allow employment discrimination, and require family follow-up for patients taking anti psychotic drugs. Leaving the drugs evaluation to those patient is ridicules. The side effects of some psychotic drugs may actually contribute to the increase of adolescent violence and suicides. The mentally ill often confuse fiction and reality and the violent movies, records and video games might need to be scaled back. More research needs to be done to determine what impact violent entertainment has on the mentally ill. It's interesting that these quote, "insane people" are cognitive enough to target places where firearms are prohibited.

In the interim, schools, having a moral and legal duty to protect their students, must take precautions to prevent entry upon school grounds by unauthorized persons. The days of open campus must stop. Playgrounds must be fenced by chain link and concertina wire, Sally ports erected to stop walk-in traffic from entering the school before they can be identified and screened. All teachers including substitutes must have door keys so in the event of a security breech; those teachers can access or lock rooms to protect their students. These solutions aren't cheap, but it will end the slaughter in our schools. Society must face the fact that this problem is much more complicated than merely blaming objects. A knife, car, or baseball bat could have killed just as many children as a gun. There is an article at elenekwilliams.com titled, "I Am Adam Lanza's Mother: A Mom's Perspective on the Mental Illness Conversation in America," which is a must read about a family with a mentally ill child.

Jerry Weaver is a Coeur d'Alene resident.