As of this writing, at least 27 people are reported to have been killed, among them 18 children following the horrific mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. I don’t know about you, but I’m not just sad or horrified. I’m fucking outraged.

I’m furious at policymakers for failing to enact gun control legislation. I’m disgusted at the NRA for holding our nation hostage to their psychotic obsession with making sure every American, even the most violent among us, has access to military grade weaponry. And I’m pissed at the Obama administration for saying they don’t think “today is that day” to talk about gun control legislation.

Close to 30 people, at least 18 children, were massacred by a twenty-something man armed with up to four weapons and wearing a bullet proof vest. Witnesses say they heard at least 100 rounds fired. In spite of all this, now is not the right time to talk about gun control? If not now, then when? How many school children under the age of 10 need to be slaughtered for our spineless political class to aggressively push for gun safety?

Obviously, gun control isn’t the only aspect of this shooting that needs to be addressed. Though it’s still unclear whether the shooter was mentally ill, access to mental health treatnemtn is a topic we need to address.

This is not to say that people with mental illness are more violent than the general population, they are not. But people with certain psychiatric problems, like severe schizophrenia, who go untreated, do commit violent crimes at a higher rate. Still, it’s important to remember that an overwhelming majority of violent crimes are committed by people who are not mentally ill. According to experts, “unemployment, recent divorce and physical abuse are better predictors of who will become violent than a diagnosis of schizophrenia,” reports the Los Angeles Times.

That being said, Jared Loughner, who opened fire on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) killing six people, had untreated paranoid schizophrenia. It has been suggested that his delusions led him to commit the mass shooting, leading many to blame Arizona Governor Jan Brewer for slashing mental health funding. But Arizona isn’t alone. The National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD) estimates that states have cut some $4.35 billion in public mental health spending from their budgets since 2009, leaving millions of people without access to desperately needed services.

My point is that the aftermath of these increasingly frequent mass shootings is the best time to talk about the underlying, whether it be lax gun laws, budget cuts or both.