Mass Shootings: A Mental Issue?

The issue on gun violence, mainly pertaining to mass shootings, has become a common reoccurrence from the past few years. Could mental illness be the reason for this? Many believe that this is linked to mental illness because this is an argument that is widely discussed by how it correlates to one another. The reason that many people believe that mental illness is linked to gun violence is because of issues such as anxiety, depression, ADHD, etc. For example, a man who is bullied in school and has depression can result in him shooting up his school because he wants revenge on everyone. Gun violence is a reoccurring issue because of the frequent mass shootings and the law on gun control.

A 19-year-old male named Nikolas Cruz opened fire at a high school in Parkland, Florida. This incident killed 17 people; he also was believed to have had an AR-15. Cruz was linked to a mental illness history; this spiked controversy with the idea of gun violence and mental illness. There have been debates and arguments to whether gun violence correlates to mental illness. Paul Ryan, House Speaker, states that "Mental health is often a big problem underlying these tragedies." This has been a recent reoccurrence. But is mental health the main issue? Do we have to justify that mental illness IS the main cause for gun violence?

The National Center for Health Statistics states that fewer than five percent of the 120,000 gun related homicides that were in the U.S. during 2001-2010 were perceived as humans that were diagnosed with a "mental illness". For example, anxiety, depression, and attention deficit disorder do not correspond with violent actions/behavior. Although, some states plan to ban/limit access to guns for people who are diagnosed with a mental disorder. How does this happen? Will that five percent prevent gun violence? Many researchers believe that it may correlate to people who do drugs, people who own guns at home, domestic abuse, etc.

Mental illness could be the cause for gun violence, though many healthy professions believe that there is more to it. What about gun control? Mental health professionals believe that the administration is looking past the main point on gun violence: that fact that guns that are easily accessible. Many of the weapons used in mass shootings can be found at a local gun shop. 

The moral of the story is that people should not base gun violence on mental illness. There is more to it. Gun violence is a reoccurring issue because of the frequent mass shootings and the law on gun control.


Comments

  1. Julie Quinn TACApril 7, 2018 at 11:28 AM

    I wonder--do those with anxiety or depression tend to commit more crimes in general than those without a diagnosis of those conditions? In paragraph one, can you elaborate on those specific connections? What's interesting about Cruz is that he was reported to law enforcement multiple times (https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/27/us/parkland-shooter-cruz-sheriff-calls-invs/index.html) and yet his purchases of the AR-15 were never even monitored. I wonder what those Florida laws are based on not calls but convictions. This makes me wonder--how can the law be amended in a way that law enforcement can cut off or limit purchases of weapons when this type of volume of calls on violent actions come in? Are there any jurisdictions elsewhere in America where this type of call activity would get one on a "do not allow purchase" list?

    ReplyDelete
  2. AlbertoooApril 8, 2018 at 3:54 PM

    Your post is well written and you touch on many points that have been debated on why shootings happen. If you could go more into detail in the first paragraph it would strengthen your post. It was effective that you used a example in your post to show readers more.

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownApril 10, 2018 at 2:45 AM

    Love the post. You described issues pertaining to mental illness nicely. But I do not believe Cruz was the one to spark controversy regarding mental illness, and mass shootings. He has been an important piece of evidence for the idea of mental illness being tied to shootings. However in all this post is well written with nice grammar, and interesting facts.

    ReplyDelete

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