CAGV: You Mean Gun Violence & Mental Illness Are Related? - Duh!

Summary: On Thursday, the leading gun control advocate in Connecticut astonishingly and publicly admitted that he was ignorant regarding the intersection of mental illness and rampage killers. And when challenged by legislatorsl on this gigantic lapse in his "expert" knowledge Pinciaro openly admitted that he needed to "do his homework" on mental illness and its role in all forms of gun violence. This is akin to tobacco company executives saying they were ignorant of the link between smoking and lung cancer. 

On Thursday, the Public Safety and Security Committee in Hartford, held a hearing on a variety of bills ostensibly related to reducing gun violence but more about further restrictions on law-abiding gun owners. The hearings drew close to 1,000 citizens including 500 employees of various gun manufacturers in the state. Last I noted, there would be over 180 citizens who would be allowed to give testimony to the committee. Based on observations of stickers worn by the supporters of gun rights and green apparel worn by gun control advocates, it appeared that gun-rights supporters brought a 10:1 turnout advantage again.

There were many speakers whose testimony is worthy of highlighting (like the representative from gun maker Mossberg) but I would like to focus this post on  a single speaker, Ron Pinciaro who is the Executive Director of Connecticut Against Gun Violence. 

CAGV is a 20-year-old for-profit gun control advocacy organization that has been at the center of most gun control efforts in CT since 1993. Ron is their most visible public spokesman who supposedly provided "expert" testimony Thursday as a gun control advocate.

In February, CAGV introduced their own gun control legislative proposal which I reviewed critically here:

http://wilton.patch.com/blog_posts/cagvmarch-for-change-legislative-prop...

My conclusion to that post included:

"..... where are CAGV’s provisions to address the causes of mass shootings or illegal guns in illegal hands? Things like:

- mental health issues to reduce both suicide and rampage killers

- integration of background check system with mental health database

- addressing violence in our popular culture and its impact on boys

- the intersection of psychotropic drugs and rampage killers

- easing the ability of caregivers and medical community to report problematic homicidal behavior or thinking."

We now know the answer, CAGV is WILLFULLY IGNORANT of such matters and how they addressing them might help mitigate future rampage killings. 

Yes, I charge CAGV's Pinciaro, CEO Marty Isaac and the rest of their team with being WILLFULLY IGNORANT of anything related to the root causes of rampage killing specifically and gun violence generally. Why? Simple, these are smart people and their regularly offered and tired solutions to any gun violence issue is to take guns away from law-abiding gun owners. While their legislative proposal has many parts, its focus is on guns and restrictions that would almost exclusively affect legal gun owners. And this is BY THEIR OWN CHOICE because these are smart people who could easily become educated about mental illness, deficiencies in our mental health system, psychotropic drugs and their involvement in the majority of the rampage killings over the past three decades. 

This WILLFUL IGNORANCE was on full display Thursday when Pinciaro was challenged by a member of the panel as to why his organization's many proposals focused exclusively on firearms and seemingly ignored the causes of gun violence. Pinciaro's unbelievable response was that such matters were  "outside of his area of expertise". Well, I have heard Pinciaro speak several times and I can tell you most of his discussions regarding firearms are also outside his area of expertise. This is on display on his illinformed views of such basics as clips vs magazines, "spraying bullets", the history of the Armalite Rifle design and the legislative history of terms he uses regularly like "high capacity" and "assault weapon". 

But Pinciaro appeared to be unaware that he had laid a rhetorical egg with that initial admission. Another member of the panel asked Pinciaro is he thought Raised Bill 1076 addressed the root causes of gun violence and rampage killings (note, 1076 is all about increased firearm restrictions and is mute on any "root cause" issues). When Pinciaro responded "yes", the citizens in the hearing room erupted with mocking laughter. Pinciaro then launched into a discussion of how the registration of every firearm in Connecticut, even long guns that he earlier had admitted had little to do with gun violence, would somehow prevent guns getting into illegal hands.

The panel questioner would not relent and asked Pinciaro again about CAGV's lack of focus on root causes like mental illness. Pinciaro, admitting that he had utterly failed to address the question in front of the cameras, grudgingly acknowledged that he had to do his "homework" on the impact of mental illness on gun violence.

I was left speechless - the most vocal advocates of ultra-restrictive and unprecendented gun control measures is ignorant of the root causes of gun violence and rampage killings.

But in the end, Pinciaro and CAGV are ideologically-driven gun control advocates who believe that taking guns out of the hands of law-abiding citizens is the answer to any gun violence issue. And they believe this irrespective of how ineffective such laws have proved in the past or in Chicago and other high-homicide cities today.

To conclude otherwise is folly when one considers the issues that CAGV ignores and has ignored over its 20 year history:

- Root causes of suicide (i.e. mental health)

- Reasons for domestic shootings (i.e. mental health)

- Reasons for common street gun violence (i.e. criminal activity, gangs, drugs)

- Causes of rampage killings (i.e. mental health, violent culture, video games)

The most recent "call to action" I received from March for Change, the pretty social media savvy mothers allied with CAGV, included:

THE PROPOSED BILLS ARE NOT NEARLY STRONG ENOUGH.  Talk about the legislative agenda that you DO support:  a ban on military-style assault weapons (no grandfathering), a ban on high capacity ammunition magazines (no grandfathering), universal background checks, universal and annual registration renewal; permits for ammunition sales. 

Pinciaro's admissions today should have a negative impact on his standing in Hartford. Even Senator Hartley and Mikutel, both Democrats, were left bewildered that CAGV's spokesperson felt mental health issues were outside his admitted expertise and played no role in CAGV's proposals on gun control.

And CAGV is considered an advocate of "common sense" gun control measures - DOH!