Jason’s Opeds

The assassination of political activist Charlie Kirk by a rogue gunman led to renewed calls on both sides of the aisle to quell gun violence. As a Harvard graduate who has a severe mental illness and a… Read More »Psychological testing could help curb gun violence

When doing entry-level, frontline jobs, I often felt (1) overworked and (2) underpaid. But if those few special customers appreciated me, life was still good. I connected to these empathic individuals who understood that doing… Read More »Three cheers for the (unappreciated) American worker

The Israel-Iran conflict is a tit-for-tat. On June 13, Israel struck Iranian nuclear facilities and military leaders. On June 16, an Iranian drone targeted the U.S. Consulate in Erbil, Iraq. On June 22, the U.S. bombed three… Read More »Jason ‘J.J.’ Park: Israel vs. Iran? Or the prime minister vs. the ayatollah?

Recently, the Trump administration froze over $2.2 billion in grants and contracts from Harvard University, to quash antisemitic and pro-Hamas sympathies, dismantle DEI initiatives, and revoke international student rights. Harvard chose to litigate, and recently,… Read More »President Trump Vs. President Garber — A Game Of Cat And Mouse

Americans are finding “nice work if you can get it” an increasingly unlikely scenario. Whether down on the farm or high atop the skyscraper, manufacturing goods or providing services, at Fortune 500 corporations or mom-and-pop… Read More »Overworked, underpaid and unappreciated: Sound familiar?

For many people living and working in this country, the American Dream defines their aspirations. By hard work and meaningful sacrifices, Americans can reach their lifelong goals, whether a short-order cook or a NASA astronaut.… Read More »American Dream or American Nightmare? Choose wisely!

I have been getting strange texts on my phone for months now. The two most memorable catchphrases I can recall are “third term president”and “No Kings Act” precisely because they are so contrarian. Are they… Read More »Third term president vs. No Kings Act

U.S. Steel has been in the news quite a bit within the last couple of years. It is enough to confuse the savviest of strategists. To make sense of it all, I list the two… Read More »Battle Royale in Pittsburgh — the Case of United States Steel

Pete Hegseth’s appointment to lead the Department of Defense involved the slimmest of margins and required the tie-breaking vote of Vice President JD Vance, 51-50. However, this was not before allegations of public drunkenness on… Read More »Hey Hegseth — for Pete’s sake, get a Eureka! moment

President-elect Donald Trump will wield what he calls an “unprecedented and powerful mandate” handed to him by voters to help him reach his goals. There is no doubt on the part of Democrats that he… Read More »Trump has a clean slate; we’ll see where it goes

After college, I was saddled with a mental illness so severe that it became time to call in the cavalry. My family, friends, physicians and professors supported my Ph.D. training, which ultimately put me back… Read More »Prevent school shootings: How Republicans, Democrats and independents can agree

On Sept. 4, 14-year-old Colt Gray armed himself with an AR-platform gun and shot and killed four individuals and wounded another nine at Apalachee High School near Winder, Ga. Is there a way that another senseless tragedy… Read More »Lessons from Apalachee High School — gun rights, gun control, gun violence

On April 30, four police officers were killed in a shooting while attempting to serve a warrant at a home in Charlotte, N.C. Four other law enforcement officers were wounded during the incident. Officers returned fire and… Read More »Keeping guns from falling in the wrong hands — lessons from Charlotte

Jennifer and James Crumbley, the parents of Ethan Crumbley, who killed four students in a 2021 school shooting in Oxford, Mich., were each sentenced April 9 to 10-15 years in prison, weeks after being convicted of manslaughter.… Read More »The Crumbley case — who else should go to jail?

An Illinois federal judge recently ruled that the Constitution protects the gun rights of noncitizens who enter the U.S. illegally. U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Coleman dropped firearm possession charges against Heriberto Carbajal-Flores, who was in possession… Read More »Gun rights, gun control, gun violence

A pending case before the Supreme Court, United States v. Rahimi, addresses the broad question of Second Amendment interpretation and how closely the nation’s laws should be compared to the way firearms were regulated in… Read More »Gun rights, gun control, gun violence

Jennifer Crumbley’s conviction for her son’s school shooting is a sea change in the public’s view of gun violence. My own parents could have suffered the same fate as hers had not fate intervened. Shortly after… Read More »Commonsense thoughts on gun rights, gun control, gun violence

Yet another senseless tragedy has occurred, the latest at Perry High School in Perry, Iowa. A school shooting leaving one dead and five wounded starts 2024 inauspiciously. However, we need more than “thoughts and prayers.”… Read More »Timing of Mass Shootings Offers Clue to Possible Deterrence

It was October 2012, and I was running amok through the city of Pittsburgh. I was down to my last day in a posh hotel room before I maxed out my only remaining credit card.… Read More »Empower families to help with mental health

Park is a mental health advocate and author of the memoir/self-help book “Bliss + Blues = Bipolar: A Memoir of my Ups and Downs Living with Bipolar Disorder.” He lives in Los Angeles. California has spent a… Read More »Address mental illness, Drug Addiction in tandem

According to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been more than 60 mass shootings so far in 2023 — almost two a day. As a formerly untreated mentally ill person who angrily erupted into violence earlier… Read More »Jason Park: A 3-part strategy to reduce mass shootings

A mass shooting occurs every 8.3 days in California on average, according to the Gun Violence Archive. This past weekend, one of the deadliest mass shootings in modern California history left 11 people dead and at least… Read More »I could have been a mass shooter. Here’s what stopped me — and could stop others, too