The four year anniversary of the tragic elementary school shooting at Sandy Hook is approaching. Unfortunately, as with every school shooting since Columbine, these anniversaries turn political and anti-gun. And by this I mean that sadly, any rhetoric, dialogue, op-eds, or ads surrounding the anniversary misses the point. Sandy Hook, is no exception.

On December 2, 2016 some of the families involved with the Sandy Hook Promise unveiled a jarring chilling ad. I recommend that our readers watch it at least twice.

As I mentioned above, the ad sadly and utterly misses the real story of what happened at Sandy Hook Elementary.

Were teachers and students shot by a student? Yes.

Was an AK-47 involved? No.

Was Sandy Hook a high school as the ad depicts? No.

Was that student just a disenfranchised student who felt bullied and figured as with Columbine that he could lash out violently and all would be well? No. The rest of the story is so much more.

Certainly the young man, who shall remain nameless here, had multiple problems. However, as reality and information has now shown us all, that young man didn’t have problems stemming from bullying. He had, over the course of his life, very real mental and psychological issues. Issues that, as court documents show, his family – particularly his mother – were unwilling to address.

I understand the parents good intentions. They are and always will be mourning their children who were killed that day. But the fact remains, given ALL the information available from medical professionals, law enforcement, school officials, the father and family of the gunman, there were exactly NO warning signs. ZERO.

The killer was treated by many mental health professionals over many years, and not one saw any sign of danger, let alone predicted or feared he might attack a school. This was actually reflected in the commission’s report, not that that recognition prevented it from making entirely predictable recommendations:

While discerning no clear answers to the question of what role A.L.‘s behavioral health challenges played in the violence he ultimately inflicted, the Commission nonetheless turns its attention to what we have learned about the role of mental disorder in violent events [p. 8].

As many others have pointed out and I must point out again… anti-gun PSA ads in this particular case would NEVER have stopped this tragedy from happening. The shooter’s MOTHER purchased her weapons LEGALLY. The shooter’s mother, acting in the very best of motherly intentions, tried to ‘fix’ her son’s very deep mental health issues by introducing him to guns. And she paid the price.

This sad, jarring, chilling ad, as stated above missed the point. If we don’t address mental health issues, tragedies like this WHETHER they involve guns or not, will continue to happen.