Perhaps Derrick Bird's deadly rampages aren't so 'inexplicable' after all (Cumberland Massacre)

The Daily Mail (U.K.) ^ | June 5, 2010 | Peter Hitchens

[Stoat]

(edit)

The truth is that until 1920, Britain’s gun laws were so relaxed they made Texas look effeminate, but we had virtually no gun crime. That only really began to increase here after we abolished hanging.

But that truth doesn’t fit the Leftist dogma which has everyone, including the Tories, the media and the police, in its grip, so the facts will be ignored.

(edit)

But I’d also like to urge another line of investigation. 

Was Bird taking the anti-depressant pills that are now prescribed so readily by NHS doctors to so many people whose lives – like Bird’s – have gone down the drain? 

Look carefully at the reports of many of the big US shootings – for example Eric Harris at Columbine in 1999 – and you will find that the shooter is described as having been ‘depressed’ and ‘on medication’. 

Here is a partial list of other incidents (there are several  more, including some where it is likely, but not proven, anti-depressants were involved) which must surely suggest that this possible link badly needs investigating.

Patrick Purdy, culprit of the 1989 Cleveland School massacre in Stockton, California, had been on anti-depressants. Jeff Weise, perpetrator of the March 2005 Red Lake High School massacre, was on anti-depressants.

(edit)

 

It is both interesting and worry ing that, with so many such unhinged and otherwise inexplicable killings perpetrated by people taking legal medication, the official world has been so slow to look into the matter. 

It’s so much easier to pass a pointless, populist gun ban.

 

[Stoat]

My apologies for the severe editing of this article.....please click on the main article link to see the full story.

 

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While we're looking into the effects of antidepressants on the minds of mass-murderers, let's also encourage our British Friends to allow the law-abiding public to re-arm themselves and to re-introduce Capital Punishment.

Researching a complex drug's physiological dynamics in this context can take decades and may ultimately provide inconclusive results, particularly given the political forces at play regarding these issues. 

Cutting loose the shackles that bind peoples' freedoms might be done far more quickly, and this route has a proven track record of success.

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Related:

 

Cumbria shootings- Derrick Bird 'showed suicidal tendencies before massacre' - Telegraph

 

Police discovered that Derick Bird had self-inflicted cuts on his arms, similar to those seen here

 

[benewton]

Simple answer: SHOOT BACK!

‘course, if you’re in GB, the best you can do is to stop the particular bullet from hitting somebody else.

And so it goes...

[Dayman]

Yep. Anti-depressants and assorted ADD/ADHD pose a huge risk to children. It’s sad we’re pumping kids full of them here in the US.

[Tex-Con-Man]

The combination of certain antidepressants and firearms have led to massacres. This story is largely untold.

Although reports of multiple shootings sometimes refers to the shooter being on medication, the resulting discussion always turns to gun control. Hardly, if ever, does the media turn its focus to the psychological effects of the drug, and how it reduces or eliminates ones conscience (inhibitions) to the point where the thought of taking revenge on a society that has wronged them, seems appropriate.

This is a serious problem that the drug companies would prefer not to discuss.

[GenXteacher]

“That only really began to increase here after we abolished hanging.”

By Jove I think he’s got it.....

[Old Teufel Hunden]

Just taking the other side. If all of these people were on anti depressants, they would have to have gone to a doctor to get them prescribed, correct? That being the case, is it fairer to say that all of these people were diagnosed clinically depressed and that is the main link? Of course (in this country at least) everyone clinically diagnosed with depression from a shrink would be on anti depressants. Not sure if the cause/effect relationship is good here...

[Stoat]

A substantial percentage (most?) of the medical cases involving depression are based largely upon a patient's self-diagnosis....a patient complains of 'feeling sad all the time', reports sleep or eating difficulties, reports difficulties concentrating at work, etc.  The doctor is being asked to provide a pharmacological solution to a problem in the patient's life that may possibly be better-addressed through other avenues such as more exercise, a different diet or changing some other aspect of his or her life.  In some cases the problem is indeed a chemical imbalance in the patient that is able to be corrected quite successfully with drugs, in others cases it's not.  On top of that, getting the correct drug and the correct dosage to the correct patient is a huge challenge, oftentimes a matter of trial and error.  Although the drugs will have 'recommended dosages', this is not an exact science, and any healthcare pro will readily admit that fact.

To make matters worse, most antidepressants have significant side effects such as causing a disruption of sleep patterns, sexual side effects, eating and digestive troubles, nausea, lethargy, etc.  These side effects can cause as much or in some cases more troubles for the patient than the original condition, so many patients stop taking their meds after awhile or take them intermittently, longing as they do for the feeling of 'normalcy' away from the side effects. 

All of these factors and more combine to make this entire issue a very complex one, and some of these meds have been directly linked to suicides in some patients, and profound personality changes.  

From what I've seen, I believe that the wrong combination of drugs in the wrong person could indeed send them 'over the edge' but I've also seen many patients who have been able to live much happier lives as a result of a chemical imbalance being corrected through drugs.  Getting it right for every patient is something that everyone involved with healthcare want so see, but it's not always  possible. 

[csmusaret]

Don’t give them a pill; take them fishing. It always cures my blues.

[Stoat]

I think that in many cases, going fishing would be the very best cure. Unfortunately, so many people these days go first to a Doc and demand a pill to fix their troubles instead of going to a Park Ranger for advice on a good bend in the river for finding trout.

Mr. Bird’s troubles were probably a bit deeper, however, in that he was having monumental money / tax troubles, most or all of which were apparently of his own making.