Mental Health vs Gun Violence: Is There Really a Link?
By: Aarushi Anad
As of 2022, only 3 countries in the world have the constitutional right to own a gun: the US, Mexico, and Guatemala, with the US being the only country to bear arms without any constitutional restrictions (BusinessInsider- Weiss & Pasley). With the recent rise of mass shootings, including the Uvalde school shooting and the Buffalo supermarket incident, there has been a wrenching national conversation regarding the overlap between mental illenss, right to bear arms, and safety. Many, such as the National Rifle Association, scapegoat people with untreated mental illnesses for mass shootings rather than addressing the underlying problem, which is unregulated gun usage. Take the Uvalde school shooting, for instance. Reports say that the alleged shooter Salvador Ramos had simply gone to the store to buy a rifle on his 18th birthday a week before the incident. Earlier that day, Ramos had found out that he couldn’t graduate high school because he had failed to complete some of the prerequisites and started making a series of ominous messages on different social media platforms (CNN-Levenson). However, public opinion stated that the root cause of this shooting was Ramos’s lack of mental stability rather than ease at whch he bought a gun. Although mental stability and capacity should be assessed before being able to buy a gun or any other weaponry, politicians should strive to make policies that target the ability for the civilian population to have simple access to such items.
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This key assumption that people with mental illnesses are “dangerous” is largely a result of the negative stereotype regarding this issue. A 2013 survey found that “46% of Americans believed that perrson with serious mental illness were ‘far more dangerous than the general population’... with people with schizophrenia as particularly dangerous” (PubMed- Swanson). However, empirical evidence has denied all allegations. In a study by the National Institute of MentalcHealth Eidemiology Catchment Area (ECA) measured violence using an index of survey questions after mental disorders were identified from a diagnostic interview. This study also assessed alcohol and illicit drug use and socioeconomic status in order to determine if any other variable could explain the relationship. This study found that only 4% of the attributable risk of violence was associated with serious mental health illness, implying that “even if the elevated risk of violence were reduced to the average risk in those without mental illness, an estimated 96% of the violence that currently occurs in the general population would continue to occur” (PubMed). Another study by Skeemand Mulvey (2020) assessed the acts of violence perpetration from official records and respondents’ own self-reports and found that within one year, 2 percent of those who were discharged committed an act of violence with a gun and only 1 percent committed an act of violence in which a stranger was the victim. This is deemed as one of the
strongest evidence currently that suggests only a few people with mental illness are violent with firearms against strangers (Ramchand, Ayer). As empirical evidence has denied all linkings between mental illness and acts of violence and has even attributed it to other factors, it can be safely concluded that policymakers need to focus on other aspects of this violent epidemic in order to subdue the rise of mass shootings.
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Not only have experts found that mental illness is not a predictor of violence, they found that it is a predictor of suicide and other forms of self-harm. It has even been attributed that violence, especially gun violence and a fear of violence, is what causes trauma, a contributing factor to the development of some mental illness. It has been found that childhood traumas and toxic traumas, formed by a constant exposure to violence, has shown to negatively impact cognitive development and increase the chances of a person developing mental health conditions. “Nearly 50% of Americans experience a mental illness at any point in their lifetime; and these persons are more frequently victims of violence rather than perpetrators” (Mental Health America). This, in turn, causes more suicide than repeated acts of violence on strangers. Rather, a majority, about 95-97%, of gun violence that is carried out is not associated with individuals impacted by mental health illness. Mostly the violence that is associated with mental illness is largely suicide, being on the top 10 causes of death in adults in the US. Much of the violence that does occur is deemed to occur as a result of having a history of violence or physical abuse. Having a childhood experience with physical abuse or violent trauma causes increased risk of violence including substance abuse. Other factors that are seen as predictors of violence are younger age, lower socioeconomic class, major life changes, or open expressions of hate and threatening behavior (Mental Health America).
Making treatment for those affected by mental health illness be readily available won’t do much to prevent acts of violence largely because mental illness is not a significant indicator of gun violence, so policymakers should start addressing the root causes of violence. Although mental health is a serious issue in its own right, it has no link to bing a solution to any kind of violence. Rather, politicians should focus on provide adequate training to anyone who does decide to buy a gun, educating them of the serious dangers and consequences that gun violence can produce. Furthermore, they should have assessments to identify at-risk individuals, especially those being affected by a generally outrageous and threatening behaviors or show an increase risk of violence through history of alcohol or substance abuse. Similar to a driver’s education course, there should be an extensive course training individuals who do wish to purchase a gun on the adequate storage of weaponry in a way to not get in the hands of any ill-intent person, consequences that gun violence has on today’s society, and how to identify at-risk persons whose sold intent in purchasing a gun is to impose harm on others. In order to identify these at risk individuals, more people should start being informed about Red Flag laws, which allow various members of society to petition a state court to attribute suspicious behavior and potentially prevent them from purchasing any kind of weaponry. These can be furthered by enacting Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) legislation, which could identify people who aren’t able to retain the mental capacity to resist gun violence. This could be done through digital testing or screening prior to purchasing a gun.
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Overall, gun violence shouldn’t be stereotyped to link to mental health illnesses, as they account for a small minority of shootings. Rather, policymakers should pinpoint the root cause of gun violence by enacting safe measures that could identify and prevent potentially at-risk individuals from purchasing a gun through red-flag laws, an ERPO legislation, and extensive training.
MLA Citations
“Gun Deaths, Violence and Mental Health.” Mental Health America,
https://www.mhanational.org/gun-deaths-violence-and-mental-health.
Levenson, Eric, et al. “Uvalde School Shooting Suspect Was a Loner Who Bought Two Assault
Rifles for His 18th Birthday.” CNN, Cable News Network, 27 May 2022,
https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/25/us/uvalde-texas-school-shooting-salvador-ramos/index.html
“Mental Health of Perpetrators.” The Violence Project, 28 Dec. 2021,
https://www.theviolenceproject.org/data-on-social-media/mental-health-of-perpetrators/
Ramchand, Rajeev, and Lynsay Ayer. “Is Mental Illness a Risk Factor for Gun Violence?” RAND
Corporation,
https://www.rand.org/research/gun-policy/analysis/essays/mental-illness-risk-factor-for-gun-violenc
e.html
Swanson, Jeffrey W, et al. “Mental Illness and Reduction of Gun Violence and Suicide: Bringing
Epidemiologic Research to Policy.” Annals of Epidemiology, Elsevier, May 2015,
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4211925/
Weiss, Brennan. “Only 3 Countries in the World Protect the Right to Bear Arms in Their
Constitutions: The US, Mexico, and Guatemala.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 6 Aug. 2019,
https://www.businessinsider.com/2nd-amendment-countries-constitutional-right-bear-arms-2017-10
#united-states-4
Wood, Rebecca. “'Red Flag Laws' Restrict Access to Guns.” The Daily Illini, 11 Sept. 2019,
https://dailyillini.com/news-stories/2019/09/12/red-flag-laws-restrict-access-to-guns/
Yankey, Marah. “IU Study: More Americans See People with Mental Illness as Violent.” News at
IU, 7 Oct. 2019,
https://news.iu.edu/stories/2019/10/iub/releases/07-focus-on-mental-health-mass-violence-increases