Editorial: Find roots of violence beforehand

It was 33 years ago today that ex-Marine marksman Charles Whitman killed 16 people by firing high-powered rifles from the top of the tower at the University of Texas at Austin before he was shot to death by police. That Whitman was distraught is an understatement. He killed his wife and mother the previous day.

That makes for an eerie parallel with the tragedy that struck Atlanta Thursday when gunman Mark Barton killed nine people and wounded 12 others in two brokerage offices before committing suicide later that day. Barton also killed his wife and two children in their suburban home as much as two days before the office shootings. To say that Barton, a stock market day trader, was distraught is also an understatement.

In the time between these two mass murders this country has experienced an endless string of senseless, random killings in post offices, along highways and on school campuses. Las Vegas is not immune. Four employees of the Albertson's Food & Drug store at 3861 W. Sahara Ave. were killed June 3 by a gunman.

There is no doubt the Atlanta murders will present gun control advocates with yet another reason to argue for increased waiting periods before handguns can be purchased. Many pundits and politicians have already suggested that gun control could become one of the major issues in next year's presidential contest.

But gun control has become as divisive as the abortion issue, which means we can expect more stalemates. Meantime, there is another way to address the topic of random killings without involving the constitutional right to bear arms.

That would be to engage in a long overdue national discussion about the need to direct more resources toward the prevention or treatment of mental illness. It goes without saying that the vast majority of mass murderers engaged in random violence either had a history of mental illness or had enough symptoms to warrant closer attention from relatives, friends and social workers. Would it not have been nice to treat these killers before they had a chance to turn violent?

Unfortunately, advocates who fight for the mentally ill have virtually no political clout in Washington, D.C., or in statehouses around the nation. Nevada is a notable example. The mental health system in this state has been severely underfunded for much of the 1990s.

We would all be pleasantly surprised by the number of individuals who, with early detection and treatment, would be dissuaded from committing random violence later.

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