Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

having lost a job in my prior life one of the first things I wanted to do was not pick up a gun and kill scores of people

this guy had a history of mental illness 

he was not somebody society just 

turned its back on

sometimes the fault lies with the individual themselves and not those around him

I'm not ready to blame society for the mentally deranged actions of an individual that struggles with mental illness

An individual?

Uhh...what?!?

having lost a job in my prior life one of the first things I wanted to do was not pick up a gun and kill scores of people

One of these days, you'll learn that your personal anecdotes don't really warrant inclusion into these discussions.  I guess it's not today.

I'll lobby for more help with mental illness

you lobby for help with fixing the broken society

Non-answer.
Thanks.

answer to how many folks need to be diagnosed with mental illness?

Not exactly.

We designate those with radical, extreme thoughts/behaviors as having mental illness, right?
But at some point, there's a tipping point where there are so many people like this, that it's not a special designation, but merely the norm.

Are wife-beaters mentally well?  Are negligent or abusive parents?  Are alcoholics?  Are drug addicts?  Are people who hate their lives 5 days a week and only feel 'normal' 2 days a week mentally well?

My point is that there are roughly 250 million adults in the U.S.  My question was how many of those would it take for you to change your label of problematic people from 'mental illness' to 'societal problem'?

If you include all of the groups of people I listed, you're getting close to 100 million already.  Scoff if you want, but there's a larger problem here.

I agree that there are societal problems

 wife-beaters, negligent or abusive parents,  alcoholics and drug addicts

all problems

not all mentally ill in my opinion

If you think of 'mental illness' meaning crazy people, sure.  But all these people shooting a bunch of people aren't all crazy.  It's a crazy act, sure. 
But there's a gray area that bleeds from 'crazy person' to 'crazy act,' and that's the problem, imo.

I personally don't know where a person begins to be 'crazy,' and I don't particularly care.  I care about actions.  
If you hit your spouse, yes, I think that's a crazy act.  A person you profess to love, and you're hitting them?  What?!?
I don't care if they're clinically ill or not, they're committing a crazy act.

When too many people are committing crazy acts, that's not a time to shake your head and offer thoughts and prayers.  It's not a time to shrug and say "mental illness."  
It's time to take stock in the larger problems of the society and make a plan to remedy them.

Source?