University Diaries » ‘[Tranyelle] Harshman’s husband Cliff Harshman told Cowboy State Daily that his wife had been receiving treatment for severe mental health issues, including PTSD and postpartum depression.’

But hey that ain’t no reason to put the guns away.

***************************

[The mother’s ex-husband] said he had been fighting for full custody [of their two children] after his divorce of about four years ago.

Pity he didn’t get it. Did the mother’s current husband inform him of her severe mental health issues?

***************************

It’s strange to me, but maybe I’m strange… in American terms. It’s strange to me, as I monitor responses to this hideous event (via various forms of social media), that no one has remarked in any way on this madwoman’s access to guns.

I mean, start with this: Two of the children would have had at least a fighting chance if the murderer had access only to knives or rope, or had to drown them… The two babies of course had no chance at all, no matter the method; but the 7 and 9 year olds might have had time to fight back or to flee if the method had been anything other than an instantaneous and crushingly lethal bullet. We don’t yet know what kind of gun she used, but there are plenty of weapons that would just wipe out the lives of these children in milliseconds, with one shot. Bang bang get the bigger ones first (one of them is currently clinging to life), and then it’s merely a matter of infants in their beds.

The murderer’s husband was apparently out of town, and though he knew his wife to be severely mentally ill, with generalized clinical depression plus post-partum depression…

Ecoute: Can it really be that the only thing Americans have to say about this event is God rest all of their souls? I mean, that sentiment, in different forms, is pretty much it as far as commentary goes. Quite a few people write variations on I know God has a plan, but at the moment it’s extremely hard to figure out what. No one even says Suicidal/homicidal psychotics shouldn’t be around guns. They don’t even venture that far.

Think of Naomi Judd’s suicide. She had longstanding, flagrant, self-destructive, mental illness. Am I really the only person who thinks it’s shocking that she had a loaded gun in her bedroom? Why is it strange to wonder why a 15 year old mass murderer had access to the gun that enabled him to execute five members of his family?

Trackback URL for this post:
https://www.margaretsoltan.com/wp-trackback.php?p=78624

UD REVIEWED

Dr. Bernard Carroll, known as the "conscience of psychiatry," contributed to various blogs, including Margaret Soltan's University Diaries, for which he sometimes wrote limericks under the name Adam.
New York Times

George Washington University English professor Margaret Soltan writes a blog called University Diaries, in which she decries the Twilight Zone-ish state our holy land’s institutes of higher ed find themselves in these days.
The Electron Pencil

It’s [UD's] intellectual honesty that makes her blog required reading.
Professor Mondo

There's always something delightful and thought intriguing to be found at Margaret Soltan's no-holds-barred, firebrand tinged blog about university life.
AcademicPub

You can get your RDA of academic liars, cheats, and greedy frauds at University Diaries. All disciplines, plus athletics.
truffula, commenting at Historiann

Margaret Soltan at University Diaries blogs superbly and tirelessly about [university sports] corruption.
Dagblog

University Diaries. Hosted by Margaret Soltan, professor of English at George Washington University. Boy is she pissed — mostly about athletics and funding, the usual scandals — but also about distance learning and diploma mills. She likes poems too. And she sings.
Dissent: The Blog

[UD belittles] Mrs. Palin's degree in communications from the University of Idaho...
The Wall Street Journal

Professor Margaret Soltan, blogging at University Diaries... provide[s] an important voice that challenges the status quo.
Lee Skallerup Bessette, Inside Higher Education

[University Diaries offers] the kind of attention to detail in the use of language that makes reading worthwhile.
Sean Dorrance Kelly, Harvard University

Margaret Soltan's ire is a national treasure.
Roland Greene, Stanford University

The irrepressibly to-the-point Margaret Soltan...
Carlat Psychiatry Blog

Margaret Soltan, whose blog lords it over the rest of ours like a benevolent tyrant...
Perplexed with Narrow Passages

Margaret Soltan is no fan of college sports and her diatribes on the subject can be condescending and annoying. But she makes a good point here...
Outside the Beltway

From Margaret Soltan's excellent coverage of the Bernard Madoff scandal comes this tip...
Money Law

University Diaries offers a long-running, focused, and extremely effective critique of the university as we know it.
Anthony Grafton, American Historical Association

The inimitable Margaret Soltan is, as usual, worth reading. ...
Medical Humanities Blog

I awake this morning to find that the excellent Margaret Soltan has linked here and thereby singlehandedly given [this blog] its heaviest traffic...
Ducks and Drakes

As Margaret Soltan, one of the best academic bloggers, points out, pressure is mounting ...
The Bitch Girls

Many of us bloggers worry that we don’t post enough to keep people’s interest: Margaret Soltan posts every day, and I more or less thought she was the gold standard.
Tenured Radical

University Diaries by Margaret Soltan is one of the best windows onto US university life that I know.
Mary Beard, A Don's Life

[University Diaries offers] a broad sense of what's going on in education today, framed by a passionate and knowledgeable reporter.
More magazine, Canada

If deity were an elected office, I would quit my job to get her on the ballot.
Notes of a Neophyte

One Response to “‘[Tranyelle] Harshman’s husband Cliff Harshman told Cowboy State Daily that his wife had been receiving treatment for severe mental health issues, including PTSD and postpartum depression.’”

Comment on this Entry

UD REVIEWED

Archives

Categories