WHY MENTAL ILLNESS ISN'T THE CAUSE

The public is inclined to think “only a crazy person would do something like this”, and therefore figure it is a mental illness that makes mass shooters “crazy”. The truth is, mental illnesses do not play a role major role in this. In fact, only four percent of violence in the United States is attributed to those with mental illness and they are more likely to be victims (Bramble, 2014). Alan I. Leschner, the interim chief executive officer of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and executive publisher of Science, goes into depth about the true meaning of the term “mental illness” and why although it seems to be an easy thing to blame for violence, it isn’t the cause. He explains “a large majority of individuals with mental illnesses are not at high risk for committing violent acts. Continuing to blame mental illness distracts from finding the real causes of mass shootings and addressing them directly.” (Leschner, 2019). What this points out is that there is clearly not enough mass shooters that have mental illnesses to justify that mental illnesses are the cause of mass shootings and despite previous stigmas, the large majority of mentally ill persons are generally not violent at all.  Although mental illness can not be blamed for mass shootings, it does not necessarily mean that we should ignore the mental state of mass shooters entirely either. Sean Philpott-Jones’ paper entitled “Mass Shootings, Mental Illness, and Gun Control” describes why mental illness should not be blamed for mass shootings entirely yet at the same time, it should not be ignored either. It mentions politics and about how conservative politicians are generally the ones blaming mental health while liberal politicians shun these claims and instead blames weapons instead. The writer takes a middle stance and acknowledges that neither are entirely wrong nor right. In the paper, describes “new data suggest that more than half of the nearly two hundred mass shootings that took place in the United States since 1900 were carried out by those either diagnosed with a mental disorder or with demonstrable signs of serious mental illness prior to the attack” (Philpott-Jones, 2018) and explains that even though this does not mean that every person with a mental disorder is a murderer, but rather that many mass shooters do have mental illnesses that has a possibility of making them decide to shoot. Although it may be a small factor, there are other things, such as the lack of gun regulations in the United States that give people the resources to commit these tragic acts. Additionally, there are those who do place full blame on mental illnesses. Donald Trump, the President of the United States, recently blamed mass violence on mental illnesses claiming “mental illness and hatred pull the trigger.” (Rupar, 2019). Again, It can be acknowledged that there have been a small number of mass murderers who did have mental diseases, but where President Trump’s claim falls short is that he blames mental illness without having proper evidence to support this and appears to focus the blame on mental illness simply to ignore the protests of stricter gun enforcement laws (Rupar, 2019). Trump, like many others, attempts to take an easy route and blame violent criminal acts on the mental illness of the criminal rather than also taking note of the other factors. In a response to Donald Trump, the President of the American Psychological Society, Rosie Davis  stated “ “The rates of mental illness are roughly the same around the world, yet other countries are not experiencing these traumatic events as often as we face them”, making it even more apparent that mental illnesses are clearly not the issue.