U.S. Senator Roy Blunt says badly administered mental health programs should be fixed as a remedy, rather than blame guns, for violence like the Connecticut school killings.
The Missouri Republican accuses the federal government of helping shut down some state mental programs.
Blunt was in Kansas City volunteering as a Salvation Army bell ringer. The holiday sounds were a contrast to the grim topics he was asked about.
Blunt said in an interview that federal funds have been handed some communities in states that moved people from mental institutions where federal dollars were used to help them, “and put them back into the community, without much monitoring whether people are ready to be in the community or not.”
The Senator said gun control will bring no peaceful harvest and stands no chance of passage in Congress.
Blunt said he would not favor any legislation that would restrict Second Amendment rights.
On negotiations to help reduce the federal deficit, to reduce spending and avoid massive tax hikes, Blunt said he believes the President and Congress can avoid the fiscal cliff.