Mental health major concern in mass shootings

NEW HANOVER COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — Stricter gun laws or more mental health services?
There’s debate on both sides. What can we do to prevent a massacre like this from happening? A question that remains unanswered.

“I don’t know how you can legislate what a criminal may do,” Buccaneer Gun Club Past President Ray Campbell said.

Campbell who is affiliated with the NRA said it is the person behind the trigger and not the gun.

“I mean obviously somebody like that is looking for unarmed people to take advantage of and if chances are, if there were more armed officers or administrators around he might have given it a second thought before he did something like that,” Campbell said.

Meanwhile others are focused on mental health. Wilmington Therapist James Zanker said he hopes as a nation we can learn from this and know what to look for to try to prevent something like this from happening again.

“Just a person who is acting irregularl, talking violent, making threats and you know just acting out of sorts. So the people that are close to them and everybody has somebody close to them, it’s the community thing you need to keep an eye on your neighbor,” Zanker said.

Campbell believes the current gun laws need to be more enforced. While Zanker hopes more conversations about mental illness can be had.

Zanker said there is a fine line between intruding on someone’s rights and doing what is necessary. If you notice someone is acting unusual the best thing to do is try to feel someone out and lend an ear, if it’s safe.