CONCLUDING REMARKS

In conclusion, although it is possible that mass shooters do have diagnosed mental illnesses, which can lead to the assumption that it is to blame for their crimes, there is a serious lack of evidence and an extensive number of other factors that could contribute to mass shootings that it cannot be blamed. The media is what plays an extensive role in why mental illnesses are blamed because they often twist their stories in a way that places a primary focus on the mental illnesses of the shooter, influencing its viewers to have a skewed idea of those with mental illnesses. In reality, there are millions of individuals in the country who are diagnosed with mental illnesses and they never commit violent crimes. Adding onto this, that means that you cannot see a few mass shooters who have mental illnesses and automatically assume that the illness is the problem. Unfortunately, it is not easy to come up with the exact cause of mental illnesses. Many claim that the slack gun laws in the United States is a major issue and that if stricter legislation were passed that prevented individuals from obtaining guns, especially automatic rifles that can shoot many at once, then the number of mass shootings that occur would decrease. Others may argue that there is nothing that can be done to prevent mass shootings. No matter the argument, what can be known is that there really isn’t anything specific people can blame, and mental illnesses definitely isn’t the issue. Before looking into how mental illnesses correlate with mass shootings, I was someone who thought that mass shooters acted because of a mental disease. Through my research, I learned a lot about mental illnesses and why they are not worthy of causation when it comes to mass shootings. I hope that my writing educates my readers and makes them aware of the information I received so that they don’t pin a murderous act on a large number of people with mental illnesses, but rather call for further research to see what could be done about mass shootings.