Addressing the issues

McDermott was asked what, if anything, could have been done to prevent the type of tragedy that affected his colleague Gabrielle Giffords. McDermott said that the system for reporting individuals and helping them get treatment was broken. Moreover, there's an unwillingness to address that problem legislatively.

"We all have reluctance to face what part we have in all of this," McDermott said. "It is very difficult to get people to pay attention to the social safety net at all.

"As a society, we have to begin to face this issue directly and deal with it."