I think this country really needs to shut up regarding the issue with mass shootings and linking gun violence to mental illness. The entire thing is so ludicrous that I can feel my face getting red and hot whenever I hear another ignorant Republican say that mental illness is the issue when it comes to massive shootings. Mental illness needs to be addressed; guns don’t need to be taken away, they say. If you want to take away guns, why not also take away pencils and cars because those things have the potential to kill people, too? No, guys. That’s not accurate or even relevant. When did people who were mentally ill suddenly become a violent risk to society in large droves? Yes, mental illness is a huge problem in this country because no one wants to face it as a real health problem but as a weakness that is stigmatized and must be ostracized and swept under a rug (or behind closed doors), but it is a very separate issue from guns killing people. The majority of mentally ill people are not violent or a risk to society. Ed had a mental illness, and he had zero capacity to cause any real harm to anyone… other than himself. A lot of homicide that happens in this country is done by people who are seemingly unaffected by mental illness. When John Oliver is calling out Americans only discussing mental illness to thwart the discussion on gun control, you know something is seriously screwed up. Deal with the gun control issue. Deal with the mental illness issue. Stop linking the two and blaming the mentally ill for the shootings and the awful number of deaths from guns every year. It’s not accurate nor is it even remotely true. Address the guns, damn it. It’s an embarrassment to me not only as an American, but as someone who has lost her brother to mental illness and suicide.