Food For Thought - Are Shooting Lessons Appropriate Mental Therapy

You know,  I believe the guy who shot them should be executed (or at least wind up in jail for life) if convicted; yet, I also find myself pondering why they ever took a guy reportedly suffering from both PTSD and schizophrenia out shooting (source). I know the reason - on the face of it - was to help him. Still, I find myself asking did they consult with anyone who was treating the guy or with any mental health quack professional to see if that would an acceptable activity or if it would be considered a dangerous risk with a guy in his state of mind at the time they took him shooting? (It is my understanding, and I may be wrong, that they knew he reportedly was suffering from both PTSD and schizophrenia.)

Don't get me wrong, I am not faulting them in any way, they were trying to do good for the guy. Now that it has happened, I am just trying to give food for thought to others who might think that a day at the range might be just the thing for a person with a mental illness. I am thinking that in some cases the answer is a definitive yes but also that in other cases, such as folks suffering from a psychosis, you would be risking your life, or the lives of others, to do so. If you plan on taking a mentally ill person, especially a severe case, to the range, you had best give it some long hard thought beforehand and may want to consider consulting with a mental health professional beforehand.

Hopefully justice will be done.

All the best,
Glenn B