The reason I wholeheartedly support the passage of the CARR Law in Kentucky is incredibly personal. This law could have saved my mother’s life.

In April 2018, my mentally ill brother shot her to death in her home. We had tried unsuccessfully for years to help him while he continued to grow more delusional. But because he was a law abiding citizen with no previous criminal history, he was able to purchase many firearms. This concerned us to say the least. But we had no ability to take his firearms from him.

When he became homeless just two weeks before he took my mother’s life, she took him into her home to try and help him. If we could have taken possession of his firearms until he got the help he so desperately needed, there could have been a different outcome to our story. My mom is gone when she should not be.

How many times do we hear that a family knew someone was struggling mentally before they committed a mass shooting? How many times were there warning signs reported that could have saved lives if there was an option to transfer the firearms away before the person acted?

This is not about blaming the gun itself as we know there are many responsible gun owners who would never harm someone else. This is about preventing innocent lives from being taken by someone in a crisis with access to a firearm.

Just as we cannot blame it all on the gun, we also cannot blame it all on mental illness. Mental illness exists all over the world but this issue is unique to America because of our easy access to firearms.

Just as we immediately changed our airport security in the wake of September 11th, the time has come to change our laws to prevent future tragedies. We owe it to future generations to solve this horrific issue. CARR is a huge first step in doing so.