Spoiler alert!
Mental illness doesn't cause gun violence.
[BEEP SWOOSH SWISH CRUNCH]
Hey friends.
Welcome to this week's episode of Feminist Fridays.
As most of you already know
there was yet another tragic shooting at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas on Sunday
that has killed at least twenty six people and has left several more in critical condition.
This massacre comes directly on the heels of the Las Vegas shooting
that killed fifty eight people and wounded over five hundred at the beginning of last month.
There are a lot of things I could say about this.
I could talk about how on average there is more than one mass shooting per day in the United States
or how it's statistically proven that gun regulation curbs gun violence.
Or how I'm fucking tired of Conservatives saying that it's "too soon" to talk about gun legislation
after a major tragedy 'cause they really just want us to forget about it and move on.
But I'm not gonna talk about any of these things.
So, I will have links below with more information if you want to read up on it more.
What I do wanna talk about today is the way that we frame mental illness
in conversations about gun violence.
And in case all you Liberals think you're off the hook here...
Y'all are part of the problem too.
So for pretty much the entire time I've been alive
and have been hearing about conversations about gun control and gun violence
mental illness has almost always been used as a scapegoat.
And this is a huge talking-point for Democrats who have been trying to reform gun laws for years.
If you know anything about me
then you know that I am the biggest Liberal SJW that there is, pretty much.
It's just kind of who I am as a person.
I vote Democrat but I have a lot of problems with the Democratic Party.
Like, so many problems.
In response to the shooting Liberal comedian Chelsea Handler tweeted:
"Mental health issues without guns are people with mental health issues.
With guns, they become murderers."
You know, I, like, pride myself on not being a murderer
but apparently if I'm ever given a gun the bloodlust is just gonna take control of me.
But of course this is not just a democratic problem.
I've seen Conservatives argue these talking-points as well.
Actually on Monday during a news conference Trump said:
"I think that, uh, mental health is your problem here.
We have a lot of mental health problems in our country, as do other countries
but this isn't a guns situation.
This is a mental health problem at the highest level."
Gun control advocates were of course quick to point out the hypocrisy in Trump's statements
since he rolled back regulation in February
that would have made it harder for mentally ill people to purchase guns.
However, despite the inconsistencies in Trump's words and actions, which is nothing new
I don't believe that blaming mass shootings on mental illness is helpful either.
'Cause I'm gonna let you in on a little secret.
Mental illness doesn't cause gun violence.
In direct response to Trump's statements
the American Psychological Association criticized Trump
for blaming the massacre on mental health and not on inadequate gun legislation.
President of the APA Antonio E. Puente released a statement saying:
"Calling this shooting a ‘mental health problem’
distracts our nation’s leaders from developing policies and legislation
that would focus on preventing gun violence through a scientific, public health approach."
Because guess what the majority of folks struggling with mental illness aren't actually violent.
According to the US Department of Health and Human Services:
"Most people with mental illness are not violent
and only three to five percent of violent acts
can be attributed to individuals living with a serious mental illness.
In fact, people with severe mental illnesses
are over ten times more likely to be victims of violent crime than the general population."
"Okay, but what about those three to five percent of mentally ill people that are violent?"
Well, of those violent acts committed by mentally ill people, most don't involve guns.
So...
Do you wanna know who's most at risk of a mentally ill person with a gun?
The mentally ill person with a gun.
"Studies suggest that suicide attempts using guns are fatal in the vast majority of cases
while attempts using cuts or poisoning are only fatal six to seven percent of the time."
There's a lot to unpack in the conversations surrounding guns and suicide and, like, personal autonomy
but this video does not have the scope or the time to do that
so we're just not gonna do that.
There's also a whole conversation to be had about
how mentally ill people are more at risk of police brutality and gun violence by police officers.
Based on over forty years of comprehensive data analysis
on police shootings the Treatment Advocacy Center concluded:
"at least half of the people shot and killed by police each year in this country have mental health problems."
There's also a really interesting statistic I found from the National Center for Biotechnology Information.
I get that statistics are probably not that interesting if you're not a fucking nerd
but I think they're interesting.
"[Gun laws that discriminate based on mental health status] may deter people from seeking treatment
for fear of losing the right to possess firearms
and may reinforce stereotypes of persons with mental illnesses as dangerous."
So basically being mentally ill doesn't mean you're any more likely to commit acts of violence
and actually greatly increases the risk that you will become a victim of violence.
And gun control legislation that's written based on the myth that being mentally ill makes you more dangerous
actually prevents mentally ill people from seeking treatment based on that stigma.
It is good to know that there are better indicators
of whether or not a person will commit acts of gun violence in the future.
The greatest risk factors are having a history of domestic violence or violent misdemeanor crimes.
So basically common sense.
If a person is violent in the past then there is a likelihood that they will be violent in the future.
Not always but it's good to look out for
especially if you're passing gun control legislation.
Wink, Congress people.
I know I just threw a lot of statistics at you guys and I apologize
sort of
but it was informative and it's good that you learn some things, sometimes.
So I wanna end this story with an anecdotal tale.
This is from a Slate article written in 2014 by a clinical psychologist working in a psychiatric hospital.
She tells the story of a schizophrenic elderly woman who ended up in the hospital
because she had stabbed another person at the grocery store.
"At her commitment hearing
she testified that she had become extremely upset in the grocery store
before repeatedly stabbing the man in front of her in the checkout line.
The hearing officer, aware of her history and sympathetic to this woman with such a sweet demeanor
asked helpfully if she had been hearing voices at the time.
Yes, she replied, she had.
'And what were the voices telling you?' the officer inquired supportively.
She explained that the voices were telling her not to hurt the man
but he had gotten in the express checkout lane with more than ten items
and that made her so mad that she couldn’t stop herself.
In addition to being a valuable cautionary tale about grocery etiquette
the story illustrates an important truth about violence and mental health:
Violence is not a product of mental illness
violence is a product of anger.
When we cannot modulate anger, it will control our behavior."
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