Yes, violent crime is an issue. I've already talked about that earlier today, and nothing has changed since then, obviously.

However, while everyone on the anti-gun side automatically assumes the answer is gun control, none of that bothers to look any deeper. The issue isn't the tool but the tool using it.

So it was refreshing to come across an op-ed actually suggesting something sensible for a change. Republican Senate candidate Eric Hovde says we should be looking at the root causes of violence instead of going after lawful gun owners.

Sadly, today, a multitude of underlying issues have resulted in tragic acts of violence and firearms are among those instruments used to carry out these incidents.

While Sen. Tammy Baldwin argues for further restrictions on law-abiding citizens, real progress to prevent acts of violence carried out with a firearm, or any other mechanism, requires addressing the underlying problems. We need to focus on solutions such as enhancing mental health resources, effectively enforcing existing laws, and improving school safety.

60% of perpetrators of mass shootings have mental health issues

Our nation is facing a mental health crisis. Too often, individuals growing up without a strong support system face mental health problems and are turning to acts of violence.

This has tragically been displayed in the increase of mass shootings in America and must be addressed. Especially those that affect our most vulnerable population, our children. As a grandfather of three, I take this issue very seriously and in Washington will promote policies to keep our children safe.

A study found 60% of perpetrators of mass shootings in the United States displayed symptoms of a mental health disease including depression and paranoia. We must provide schools with the tools needed to address this growing crisis.

The mental health crisis not only leads to tragic mass shootings, but is a major factor in the leading cause of death in gun violence which is suicide. For every 100 gun deaths in Wisconsin, 71 are suicides. That is heartbreaking.

Hovde doesn't end there, but I can't reprint the entire thing. However, his underlying point here is that focusing on guns is the wrong approach and that we should be targeting the underlying issues.

One thing Hovde didn't get to is research so we can better understand mass murderers in general.

It's one thing to just say they're mentally ill--they are, but there's more going on than just that. Most people with mental health issues aren't shooting up various locations around their community--but it's quite another to look for the specific problems. Some will argue that mass shooters lack significant mental illnesses as some studies have claimed, but I'd argue that mild anxiety doesn't prompt anyone  to slaughter people in job lots.

We need to know more so we can find out if there's a psychological disorder at work that we haven't discovered yet.

And yes, there is still the issue of suicides, which make up roughly two-thirds of all "gun deaths" in this country. There's no disputing the fact that suicide stems from mental illness, so on that point alone, better mental health services will do wonders for the "gun death rate" in this country.

What many don't seem to want to acknowledge is that if you eliminated all gun homicides from our country, our murder rate would still be higher than other developed nations total homicide rates--and that's with them keeping their homicides with a firearm, mind you, so not an apples to apples comparison here. It's idiotic to argue that none of those gun homicides would have been carried out with some other weapon if guns were unavailable, so that means the actual rate in such a situation would be still higher.

So it can't be the guns. Guns don't make people stab someone to death. It doesn't make people stomp someone to death. It does none of those things.

There's something else at work and we need to address that instead of distracting ourselves by trying to ban guns.