Readers write

No easy solution could have prevented Beltline killing

Regarding the recent opinion column by Erick Erickson, “We failed the accused Beltline killer by ending institutionalization,” I am also an attorney. I worked at the Georgia Legal Services Program. This nonprofit organization provided legal services to low-income Georgians from the late 1980s through the early 2000s, during which I represented hundreds of patients at Central State Hospital in Milledgeville.

The problem with Erickson’s longing for the good old days when Central State Hospital housed more than 12,000 patients, some of whom may have posed a physical danger to others, is that research from the American Psychiatric Association, for example, notes that “(m)ost people with schizophrenia are not any more dangerous or violent than people in the general population.” In general, psychiatrists and psychologists are, at best, only modestly accurate predictors of a person committing a violent act toward others.

Yes, it is very tragic that the legal system may have failed us when Johnathan Hamby allegedly killed Ramon Harris in August this year. I am sympathetic to Harris’ family, co-workers and friends for their loss. But reopening the doors of Central State Hospital and other mental health facilities and warehousing homeless people and others with mental disorders for months and years based on the remote possibility they may be violent in the future is not the answer.

It is a complex and complicated subject that has been debated for decades. However, we should not seek simplistic solutions to this problem, as history has shown they have not worked well.

TORIN TOGUT, LAWRENCEVILLE

Ossoff is right to criticize Trump’s war with Iran

In his guest opinion column, U.S. Rep. Austin Scott claims U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff is playing politics when criticizing President Donald Trump for starting the war with Iran (“Jon Ossoff claims Trump lied us into war, but here’s why U.S. is in Iran”). Scott says Trump was justified because Iran exceeded the uranium enrichment limits established by a prior agreement. What Scott leaves out is that Trump threw out that very agreement. Why? Because it was former President Barack Obama’s agreement and Trump despises Obama.

Trump bombed Iran in a joint operation with Israel shortly after a meeting with (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu. He did it without consulting anyone, let alone Congress, and despite warnings from both Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. It was a foolish and costly move that appears to have been yet another snap decision based on the input of the last person he talked to.

Finally, Scott’s broad swipe at everyone who is not a MAGA Republican as having Trump Derangement Syndrome is as vapid as it is snarky. If Trump’s bullying Canada, threatening to invade Greenland and going after every clean energy project in existence even as the planet is burning doesn’t bother you, then you’re suffering from Trump’s Insanity Normalization Syndrome and you need to take R&R on Lake America.

DEAN POIRIER, LILBURN

Secured firearms can save lives

September is National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have shown that in Georgia, 1,066 people die by suicide by gun each year, including 66 children and teens.