ANDREA RUTH: Diagnosed Or Not, The Vegas Shooting Is About Mental Illness.

While the media is focusing on the guns the Las Vegas murderer used, and how to get guns out of the hands of law-abiding Americans in an attempt to rid the country of murder, we ought to be discussing how someone like him was able to do what he did.

So, why don’t we? The answer is simple.

Mental health care is expensive. Gun control talk is cheap.

Make no mistake, taking away guns while at the same time ignoring the tragedy mental illness is on loved ones and society — whether it’s diagnosed or not — is folly. Acting like we will never experience such tragedy again if 2nd Amendment rights were voided is simple foolishness.

With freedom comes risks and responsibilities. The 2nd Amendment honors the right for individuals to defend themselves. Even a mentally ill person, until he’s alerted to authorities for certain behavior.

But, again, the mental state that caused the Las Vegas murderer to act is being overlooked in favor of the hot topic of gun control. As long as this continues, we all lose.

An honest conversation about mental illness would also require revisiting one of the Left’s long-held convictions, which hardly seems likely.