In the wake of shootings that have happened lately, one recently at a church in Texas brought this sentence President Trump stated this past Monday at a news conference in Tokyo, "I think mental health is the problem here, this isn't a guns situation."

The gunman, Devin Patrick Kelley escaped from a mental health facility in 2012 after sneaking guns onto an Air Force base and threatening commanders, which still wasn't enough to prevent him from buying four guns afterward. He was also known for beating his former wife, and abusing his former stepson, and posting about his rifle and his affinity for mass shootings, as well as scaring his neighbor for several mornings in a row by firing gunshots from his property.

Now this isn't a call out to mentally ill people in any shape or form. But think about it, you have Stephen Paddock fire into ongoing concertgoers, Dylann Roof killing nine African Americans at the Charleston Church, now the Texas shooting with both not having any real motive behind it except for Dylann who knew of his intentions, in at least a years span? No sane normal human being would think this is okay. So the only alternative you can go by is mentally ill. Now what I mean by mentally ill, which means disorders that affect your mood, thinking and behavior, is that these three men had some behavioral and thinking issues that affected them in some way to think that what they are doing is okay.

Now, think about this, put a gun on a table and ask it to shoot someone. It won't, a gun cannot fire on its own will. The person holding the gun is who fires the gun. Now think about gun control, you can't stop someone from getting a gun illegally. If their intention is on killing someone, they will find a way to get a gun and do so. Also think of it this way; One does not commit a mass shooting solely because they are allowed a gun. Even if you take guns out of the equation, people have other means of causing harm and bringing death. Better background checks is the only and I mean only solution.

The lack of the Air Force entering Kelley's conviction into the federal database, which would have made him ineligible to purchase firearms, has now caused 26 innocent lives to be taken. It was the lethal combination- toxic masculinity, civilian access to weapons of modern warfare, lazy and easily evaded background checks, being in a mental health facility, and, most pointedly, both the domestic violence court-martial and the domestic violence as being a public health crisis.

When it comes to mass shootings, who are you going to blame? The gun or the person behind the gun? When something like this happens, you have to look at the mental state of the person especially if they think its okay. After an incident like this, everyone jumps to gun control but I agree with President Trump, this is a mental issue. This is the issue with a person in the state they are in when it comes to holding a gun in their hands or what their past indicates how they are as a person. Which is why better background checks is what really need. You don't put a gun in the hands of someone with a past of domestic violence or being in a mental health facility.

My goal isn't to propose the specific ways in which we should stop violent behaviors. The challenges of reaching psychopathic killers through the mental health care system is a long and complex discussion. Some believe that gun control is not the answer, and some believe mental health care is not the answer. Both are the answers.

In order to stop gun violence, we must focus on both aspects - better background checks and the mental state of the person.