Are You Nuts or What?
There is no denying that a man who goes outside of a hotel balcony to shoot at random people is not in his right mind, and a student who enters a school only to kill his classmates is nuts; however that kind of madness is not considered a mental illness.
According to the American Psychiatric Association, 19% of the U.S. adult population suffers from mental illness, of which only 4.1% suffer from serious mental illness like Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorders, Panic Disorder, etc .
Although the percentages of people suffering from mental illness in the U.S is not particularly high, for some reason, almost always when a fatal shooting occurs in the country, some politicians jump to the conclusion, without proof, that the main reason for the tragedy was the shooter's mental condition and not the way in which the perpetrator had access to weapons. For example, this is what happen after the shooting in Parkland, Florida where President Trump preferred to divert attention to the mental problems of the shooter than the elephant in the room which was the poor control over the weapons in the U.S.
In fact, according to Mass Shootings and Mental Illness, a paper by the Director of Forensic Psychiatry and Associate Professor of Psychiatry James L. Knoll IV of Syracuse University and Professor George D. Annas of the State University of New York, an adult person with a mental illness is much more likely to be the victim of a violence situation like a shooting, than to be the one who perpetuates it.
With all of this data, tragedies like Las Vegas are still being justified with statements like "It's a very sick man. He was a very demented person," made by the President of the country. A reason why this statement is still being used to justify this kind of situation is because of the stereotype that some of the population still has towards mental illness patients instead of guns laws. As a matter of fact, passing a law that restricts the accessibility of citizens to heavy arms is more difficult than threading a needle in darkness.
It is frustrating to know that part of the iceberg in this problem is the economic influence that the NRA has in politics and the excuses of some politicians. An example of this is Senator Rubio, who after the shooting in Parkland, Florida, said that a stricter regulation would not have prevented the tragedy.
The only moderately comforting outcome from all of this is that little by little citizens begin to realize that the excuse of mental illness as a reason for shootings is a mere screen. Nevertheless, how many minutes of silence should be kept by future victims until something or someone change the rules of the gun game?
Great post. You explained a great amount of information discussing the mental illness and the reason for the shootings. It's truly sad to see politicians come to the agreement that mental illness is the reason for gun violence. People like to jump to conclusions and assume people are "demented" or "abnormal" because their actions are out of the ordinary. How do you think that makes others, who HAVE mental illnesses, feel? Is this considered a form of stereotyping? And also, WHY do people continue to do this when clearly the statistics show that only a few were considered with mental illness? It does not correlate.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteInteresting statistics which you have presented. I enjoyed the particular stand point that you took on the issue, highlighting how mental health is not the end all be all to gun violence. I agree in unison to your points as i do not believe that gun violence is 100% resulted by mental health, and it is falsified in news media. In regard to politics, many individuals in office shy away from factors that play into the result of a mass shooting, but rather focus on the shooter itself. This is seen way too often, not only in only gun violence but in bombings across the U.S. The question to be asked is if officials know what to do, but wont because they always need funding for some type of cause. If there is always resolution, then there is no money.
ReplyDeleteAwesome job with your title and I agree with Julianne in that this was a great post, information was well written and easy to read. When you say that adults with a mental illness are more likely to be a victim why do you think adults with mental illness are more likely to be a victim of crime than be the actual criminal ? Its difficult to know exactly if stricter gun laws would have prevented the Florida shootings. If high caliber rifles were take off the streets who's to say he wouldn't walk in with a shotgun,handgun or a bomb strapped to his chest. Schools should take proper precaution for all situations but don't. Lastly do you think that people play the mental illness card so that they don't go to jail but a mental hospital ?
ReplyDelete