The father of a student killed in last year’s mass shooting at a Florida school argued Wednesday that the political activism embraced by survivors and the media attention those efforts attracted came at the cost of a needed focus on mental health problems caused by the massacre. Ryan Petty, whose 14-year-old daughter, Alaina, was among 17 people killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, implored communities affected by gun violence to invest more resources in mental health treatment and suicide prevention efforts. “The politicization and media-frenzied response to the murders overwhelmed and eclipsed the real, personal needs of the survivors and their loved ones,” he wrote. “To be blunt, the cacophony of voices on gun control drowned out and suppressed a needed conversation on the mental health needs at the school and in the community. These battles cannot be separated.”Last week, students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School staged a walkout for improved mental health resources for shooting survivors.

Source: Huffington Post April 10, 2019 17:37 UTC