My name is Lena, and I’m frustrated beyond words. Once again, instead of facing the truth about America’s gun crisis, leaders are scrambling to point fingers anywhere else. After the recent tragic school shooting in Minneapolis where two young children lost their lives and so many others were injured, I expected national conversations about gun reform, safety measures, and real accountability. Instead, what did we get? A health secretary who went on television and decided the “real culprit” might be antidepressants.

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. At a time when families are grieving and communities are in shock, we’re being told that maybe psychiatric medications—the very thing that saves lives and helps people get through depression, anxiety, and trauma—are somehow to blame for school shootings. I’m sorry, but this is a dangerous distraction.

Let’s get real: guns are the problem. Easy access to high-powered firearms is the problem. The fact that someone can walk into a school with a weapon of war is the problem. Not antidepressants. Not therapy. Not medication that millions of people rely on to function and survive each day.

This type of rhetoric infuriates me because it does more harm than good. People who are already struggling with mental health issues now feel stigmatized. Imagine needing treatment for depression but hearing leaders suggest that taking medication could make you violent. That’s not only false—it’s cruel. It scares people away from getting help, and it demonizes those who already do.

And let’s not ignore the timing. Every time there’s a mass shooting, the cycle repeats: blame video games, blame mental health, blame movies, now even blame antidepressants. Anything but the guns themselves. Why? Because if they admit guns are the issue, they have to face the uncomfortable truth that we need stricter laws, background checks, and serious reforms. They’d rather toss out conspiracy-style explanations than confront the fact that our children are being murdered because weapons are too easy to obtain.

The saddest part is how predictable this has become. We’ve normalized school shootings to the point where our leaders don’t even bother offering solutions anymore—they just deflect. The families who lost loved ones don’t need deflection. They don’t need a scientific wild goose chase about antidepressants. They need change. They need leaders who will protect their children, not gaslight the public into thinking medication is the boogeyman.

Let’s also be clear: if antidepressants were the cause, then why do millions of people take them every day without incident? Why don’t we see mass shootings happening everywhere they’re prescribed? The logic falls apart instantly. Other countries use the same medications, but they don’t have the same crisis we do. The difference is obvious: access to guns. It really is that simple.

So where do we go from here? First, we need to refuse to accept this narrative. We can’t let leaders convince us that the medicine keeping people alive is suddenly the villain in this story. Second, we need to demand accountability. Every deflection pushes us further away from the real solution, and it costs lives. Third, we have to speak up—loudly. Conversations like this one matter because the more we call out these distractions, the harder it becomes for them to keep ignoring the obvious.

I’ll end with this: stop blaming antidepressants. Stop blaming the people who are struggling. Stop blaming anything that isn’t the real issue. Guns are the problem, and until we fix that, we will keep burying our children.

What do you all think? Am I wrong to be this angry, or do you agree that enough is enough? Because I’m tired of the excuses, and I think it’s time we finally put the blame where it belongs.

—Lena