• Rich Barlow

    Senior Writer

    Photo: Headshot of Rich Barlow, an older white man with dark grey hair and wearing a grey shirt and grey-blue blazer, smiles and poses in front of a dark grey backdrop.

    Rich Barlow is a senior writer at BU Today and Bostonia magazine. Perhaps the only native of Trenton, N.J., who will volunteer his birthplace without police interrogation, he graduated from Dartmouth College, spent 20 years as a small-town newspaper reporter, and is a former Boston Globe religion columnist, book reviewer, and occasional op-ed contributor. Profile

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There are 11 comments on Medical and Charles River Campus Groups Join in National School Walkout Yesterday

  1. These arguments blaming guns and crying for gun control are illogical.

    Most of the gun violence in this country is directly tied to gang violence and mental illness

    Legalize illicit drugs and do a better job of treating not just drugging up people with mental illness and the problem with illegal missuse of guns will solve itself without infringing upon the only right that puts the teeth into the bill of rights for all Americans.

    We once had children not only bringing their guns to school but using them to compete in target practice without issue but this was before we served them mind altering drugs with their breakfast!

    The mechanisms of action of guns have not changed much in the past 50 years but the way we treat mental illness has. Instead of institutionalizing the mentally ill we set them loose on the streets and trust them to remain compliant with their drug dosing schedules and then feign shock when they are noncompliant.

    Instead of infringing on the rights of those who are not mentally ill why not infringe on the rights of those who are while ensure they get timely and effective treatment so they can have their rights restored as soon as possible?

    You want common sense solutions look no further than what I have written here.

    1. There is only so much one can do for people with mental illness. Usually the problems stem from their life circumstances ( how they were raised, the people who influence them on a daily basis, environmental stressors etc.)

      I do agree more needs to be done to help those with mental illnesses in this country. However, parents, families and the community are among the most important influences in helping those with mental illness coup with their daily struggles.

      By controlling guns, we would in fact be helping mental health patients! Whether it takes more time, more test, or more screening measures to obtain a gun, the benefits largely out weigh the cost of having guns end up in the wrong hands.

    2. Whatever your beliefs, the only thing that has been proven to signifigantly reduce gun violence is reducing the availability of guns.

      Yes, we live in a country that doesn’t provide adequate medical coverage for the mentally ill and that needs to be fixed, but not all shooters are mentally ill. A better predictor is whether they have a history of violence (ex/ domestic abuse) and a more immediate deterrent is not allowing violent people to own guns.

      Just my two cents.

  2. A lot of the conversation about guns is missing the point. It’s great that students are drawing attention to gun violence but they should be protesting the lack of available mental health in this country. We used to have many facilities to evaluate mental illness. But politicians thought it would be cheaper to just dump the mentally ill on the streets and in our prisons. This is not a gun control issue it’s an issue involving a lack of mental health resources. The police were called multiple times, the FBI was called, cruzes classmates were reaching out to everyone, the school knew he was a threat and expelled him but still this happened not because of a weapon but because a sick individual couldn’t be sent off somewhere like an asylum. The problem with using prisons to house the mentally ill is that they first have to commit a crime. Every state should have at least one mental health facility to remove violent mentally I’ll people from society if they post a threat. We used to do this but not so much anymore.

  3. Times the NRA was mentioned here: 4 times

    Times the FBI or Broward County Sheriff were mentioned: 0

    And believe me the irony in praising Dicks and Walmart for refusing to sell guns to those legally old enough to own them while probably condemning a store that won’t sell a wedding cake to a gay couple is not lost on me

  4. Where exactly could a civillian legally purchase an “automatic weapon of mass destruction”? I would like to think that a professor of all people would educate themsevles on an issue before speaking on it. Guess I was wrong.

    1. “Where exactly could a civillian legally purchase an automatic weapon of mass destruction?””

      Gun shows, legally licensed dealers, sporting goods stores,from private individuals, etc, etc. There are too many options.

      1. Jose,

        Automatic weapons are very heavily regulated in the United States. It is near impossible for you or I to legally own an automatic weapon. As far as I know, the only people who can own an automatic weapon are military people with some crazy license.

        I don’t want to put words in your mouth, but I beieve that what you’re referring to when you use the term “automatic” is the AR-15 and other modern rifles like it. The AR-15 and similar rifles are actually semi-automatic, meaning that one trigger pull = one shot. It is worth noting that virtually all handguns are semi-automatic. Semi-automatic rifles like the AR-15 are not machine guns.

        I think that there is a huge issue in the gun control debate, especially when it comes to “automatic” weapons. Many people who advocate stricter gun laws, like the professor I quoted, seem to think that just about anyone could walk into a store an purchase an automatic weapon, when in reality, these kinds of guns are already banned for most of the population.

        I would also disagree that a gun is a weapon of mass-destruction.

    2. Paul, an automatic weapon of mass destruction can be purchased at any Academy Sports, Cabellos, etc. Yes, they sell AR-15s at these places- I saw one at Academy just last week here in metro NOLA. Go to Impactguns.com and they have them aplenty. Speaking of educating oneself before speaking…..

      Yes, an AR-15 is an automatic weapon of mass destruction. See Columbine, Parkland, etc.

      Oh and btw…….you misspelled “themselves”. Just sayin’.

      1. Jim,

        Automatic weapons are actually banned in the US except for very small percentage of the population. It is near impossible for a civilian to legally own one.

        I believe that you have the wrong understanding of what “automatic” and “semi-automatic” mean. The rifles you see in gun stores are semi-automatic, meaning one pull of the trigger equals on shot fired. The AR-15 is not an automatic weapon, It is semi-auto. Also, automatic weapons were not used in Parkland or Columbine.

        As for my poor spelling, I apologize, I’m an ENG student.

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