Mass shooting seem to be happening more and more. People are becoming more and more afraid of the potential for being shot by disturbed individuals. Living in this fear makes people demand a solution to a problem they don't understand well enough. Action is demanded, but is it even the right action to take?
People get shot many times throughout the year in various countries. The greatest concern arises in the media when it's about mass shootings. When a cop shoots or kills an innocent person with a gun, people react differently compared to mass shooting. You can find videos of cops shooting (and murdering) unarmed individuals who had their arms up, who were already in the process of being subdued, or already were subdued. It's shocking.
Some people will blame the victim saying they deserved it, because these people seem to have undying loyalty, trust and faith in the special authority police yield over everyone else. And other people will recognize the cop is at fault for abusing their power and shooting someone they had no right to. Seldom do you hear anyone try to blame the gun when it comes to police violence.
In mass shootings, the arguments in the media are revolving around the guns. Through fear, a hysteria is developed where people focus on at the gun as the problem. People just want to get rid of gun access for everyone except the centralized gang of authorities that get special "rights" to be allowed to have guns while everyone else can't. Are guns the real problem?
Media coverage often talks about mental illness as the issue behind mass shootings, since people characterize the shooters in mass shootings as crazed, deranged, or mentally ill, as a reason for them to do what they do. With a focus on mental illness as being responsible for creating mass shootings, many people are demanding for more restrictions on the mentally being being able to purchase guns. In many cases there are mental issues, but where do those come from?
Could it be the pharmaceuticals that are altering the way people think and feel, and making them more unstable or "mad", resulting in irrational behavior like mass shootings? That is something to look into. Many of the shooters are reported to have been on pharmaceuticals, yet this is hardly seen as a causal source for producing the effect of their behavior.
Putting aside the question of pharmaceutical drug use to fuel greater mental instability, what does the research show about mental illness in general, and the use of firearms in those who are having mental issues?
Even before the most recent mass shooting in February 2018, a study came out in January about mental illness, the access to firearms, and whether that is fueling mass shootings.
Mental illness is a factor in less than 5% of all violent crimes. Most people who are afflicted with mental illness do not engage in violent behavior.
If that is what the evidence says, then is mental illness really what is driving the violence in America? It seems the answer is no. People with serious mental illness who have access to guns show no greater propensity to be violent compared to people in the same neighborhood with no mental illnesses. There is a myth about armed mentally ill people being more dangerous than everyone else.
The analysis from this recent study showed no difference between the risk of violence of people with prior mental illness and those without. Both groups had direct or indirect access to firearms through people they knew. Policies aimed at restricting gun use to people who have no history of mental illness are doubted as being useful to prevent mass shootings.
The risk posed by mentally ill people with guns, is to themselves, not to others:
People with mental illness have a much stronger desire to harm themselves with suicide, compared to people without mental illness. Firearms access seems to increase the desire for mentally ill people to experience suicidal thoughts.
This helps to explain how mental health fits into gun violencve, and why 2/3 of all gun-related death are from suicides, not homicides.
Oddly enough, the ability for researched to understand this problem more has been essentially prohibited by government. In 2015, Congress quietly rejected an amendment to the 1996 Dickey Amendment that would have allowed the CDC to study the underlying causes of gun violence. It appears the gun lobby put pressure on congress to get the Dickey Amendment passed under claims that the CDC was engaging in propaganda and being used to bring on more gun control in America. The current study was conducted from research done in the 90s, as no new research is allowed.
If laws are passed restricting gun ownership to people without mental illness, this may prevent people who have mental illness from seeking help, in fear of getting diagnosed with a mental illness which would thereby restrict their ability to own a gun under the 2nd Amendment. If people are vilified for having a mental health crisis, fewer will want to get help, which may increase their risk for suicide.
- Do you think general mental illness is the main cause behind mass shootings?
- Will restricting guns from those with mental health history do anything to stop mass shootings?
- What do you think is the cause of mass shootings?
Have your say, speak your mind!
Thank you for your time and attention. Peace.
References:
- Severe mental illness and firearm access: Is violence really the danger?
- Allowing mentally ill people to access firearms is not fueling mass shootings
- The Population Impact of Severe Mental Illness on Violent Crime
- Mental Disorder and Violence: An Examination of Stressful Life Events and Impaired Social Support
- Quietly, Congress extends a ban on CDC research on gun violence
- Dickey Amendment (1996)
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