American Generalization: Mass Shooters

After a mass shooting event, the public’s focus often shifts to gun control, as well as the state of our mental health system. “Research suggests that mass shootings can increase mental health stigma, reinforce negative stereotypes that people with mental illness are dangerous and violent,

Metzl, Jonathan M., and Kenneth T. MacLeish. “Mental Illness, Mass Shootings, and the Politics of

“Guns don’t kill people, people do.” This is a well known statement that is oftentimes considered true. However, it is not completely true. Someone who is mentally ill may be unable to make logical decisions and the perception they receive of reality may be tainted by the illness. Gun laws pertaining to those suffering mental illnesses should be more restrictive. Weapons such as guns make committing an act of violence, especially when there are multiple victims, much easier. It is difficult to assess the probability of a person to commit a violent act that harms anyone including himself/herself. Therefore, gun laws need be monitored very closely and made more consistent throughout each state in order to prevent violence that could

The most extensive argument many have argued toward violent video games affecting one’s behavior can simply be described as that many shooters were fans of violent video games before committing the shootings. A common example people making this argument raise are the Columbine shooters, who were big fans of the video game Doom. While many believe that Doom’s excessive gore and violence led the two teens to perpetrate the mass shooting, that is not the case. What those who argue against video games fail to realize that those who commit these crimes had a history of other conditions. After many mass shootings, researchers often discovered in autopsies that the suspect had a long history of aggression or mental health problems that gaming was not responsible for. Patrick Markey and Christopher J. Ferguson, writers for US News, wrote

In the US mental illness is not given a high priority and is highly stigmatized so people aren’t always willing to get the help they need for fear of judgment. Mental illness is often a factor in mass shootings, so general attention to this would be beneficial. However, this isn’t to say that all mass shooters do have a mental illness; many people live their day-to-day lives dealing with a mental illness, so the stigmatization of mental illness and also the bad representation of people with mental illnesses becomes dangerous. Though this is most likely not unique to the United States, better communication between adults and students is vital in preventing school shootings. Often the perpetrators felt they were wronged in some way and were not receiving the help they needed. Also, gun control plays a big role here as well. It is far too easy for young people to gain access to a parent’s weapon or to acquire their own. In light of many tragedies in the United States, I believe that gun control is a serious topic that needs to be delved

Every day, illegal firearms are moving all around the country, sometimes falling into the wrong hands. Not only is gun distribution playing a big role in these events, but several mentally ill and psychotic individuals are also contributing to the massacres. The people creating such acts of terror are triggered for not one, but many reasons, such as: racism, bullying, hatred of religion, or sometimes even just for the satisfaction in taking part in such violent

Mental Health is the root to numerous problems in America, how your brain deals with certain situations determines how sick or healthy our minds are. Based on a Washington Post-ABC News Poll of 808 adults, 57% agreed that the mass shootings were due to mental health issues whereas 28% said that it was due to inadequate gun control laws (SHEN). Almost 30% additional people thought that it was a mental health issue instead of a gun control issue. Since a larger portion of adults believe that mental health is the root to mass shootings a mental health test need to be complete on anyone who wants to carry or purchase a weapon.

I decided to do my research project on the mentally ill and mass shootings because there is a significant correlation between the two. I selected the topic of the mentally ill and mass shootings because it is an ever increasing epidemic that needs to be addressed. As mass shootings continue to rise we can see a direct correlation between the mentally ill and acts of violence being carried out by those individuals. For example, Sandy Hook, the Aurora movie theater shooting, the Las Vegas Route 91 shooting, etc. Statistics show that a mass shooting is attempted nearly every day, but is most often stopped before it is carried out or the plan falls through. There are always signs that the attack is about to occur. People often say the attack came as a surprise and was random, but that is never the case. The attacker often posts videos or messages online about the future attack. There is a need for prevention methods in order to reduce mass shootings.

Has the deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill led to the increase of mass shootings experienced in the US? According to Lankford, several reports suggest that up to 60% of offenders of mass shootings in the US since 1970, exhibited symptoms including depression, delusions, and acute paranoia prior to the commission of their crimes. Further statistics have shown that since 1982, there have been at least 71 public mass shooting across the country; with 34 of these mass shooting having occurred since 2006. A recent analysis of the database by researchers at Harvard University corroborated by a recent FBI study concluded that mass shootings have been on the rise. More than half of the cases involve school or workplace shootings, 12 and 20

Next time there 's a mass shooting, don 't jump to blame the people with a mental illness and the people responsible for them. Look first at the NRA services that gave them the guns that caused the chaos and death, and the laws in the state where the shooting took place. People are so angry at the fact that criminals with an mental illness kill people and blame them. When really the gun is the reason why people die. Sure they pulled the trigger, but considering that

Although guns are a major problem in the US, it’s important to remember that our nation’s trigger-happy citizens tend to be a problem as well. Guns are inanimate objects with no mind or will of their own. The person that picks up the gun knows who and what will be their target. When taking account of the fact that most of school shooters have had something mentally wrong with them. Speaking on the matter, 2016 GOP Presidential Candidate and self-made billionaire Donald Trump stated that this isn't “a gun problem, but a mental problem” (Scott 2). However Trump is over simplifying a rather complex problem. Mental illness includes depression, bipolar disorder and anxiety, all things that may not be noticeable by someone deciding on whether or

So when shootings occur, especially mass shootings, “the media’s framing of crime-related issues often dictates whether public opinion will perceive crime as a concern of individual or social responsibility” (Iyengar cited by Payne 2014). So in other words, should the public be concerned about specific individuals on a micro level or should everyone be accounted for. In such cases where mass shootings occur the response to such events from our government is to remind us of the gun violence, to continue and place more fear into society. They briefly address the mental health system before going onto the “real” situation which is “the role of gun policies in an attempt to ameliorate the public’s growing demand of gun reform in the aftermath of

There is an assumption that if you understand the minds of serial killers, or persons who commit mass shootings, that it may help prevent mass shootings. “Mass shootings are not on the rise, but have held steady over three decades, randomly clustering in time to trick our brains into finding a pattern of increase where none actually exists” (Shermer 3). Mass shootings happen at varying times without rhyme or reason. Some think that a psychological disorder or some genetic defect could be the reason people commit these crimes. Although we cannot prevent mass shootings, we can educate on how mental health issues can be a precursor to such a tragedy, and how better laws can create a safer environment.

One of the main issues with mass shootings is not the guns but the people who wield the guns. In the United States, less than six percent of people are considered to have “serious” mental disorders (National Institute of Mental Health). Less than one percent of that number would even be at the risk of committing as catastrophic a crime as a mass shooting. This is the type of person who would do such a thing. Again, this is not common at all. We are talking about a handful of people in the whole country, yet news coverage and popular opinion makes it out to be a common event. Seung-Hui Cho, the Virginia Tech Massacre killer who murdered 32 people on

Media always say that one was mentally ill, or that one was going through a change at the time they committed such crime, instead of looking up resources, and finding out facts that may have triggered them to commit the crime. For example, the shooting in Charleston, South Carolina, where nine were shot in killed inside of an historical black church, and only two survived. Dylan Roof who is a Caucasian, male, who walked inside the historic Emanuel African Methodist church one Wednesday night and attended bible study for an hour before he decided to take the lives of harmless, innocent people. However, CNN electronic article says nothing about fixing the number one and obvious problem with this situation, which is the race. Instead, out of context they say, “Roof had an unlabeled pill bottle with a drug believed to be suboxone, which is used to treat opiate addiction.” (Elles, Payne, Perez, & Ford, 2015.): and even proceed to compare it with other school shootings like the Columbine and the drugs they were on that made them mentally ill. Furthermore, when google-ing reasons why school shootings happen, the majority of articles and websites that popup are about mental illness. But when researching about the causes of school shootings you’ll see that mental illness is not the number one cause, but it is the number one cause that our media portrays so that beneficial Americans will not seem so bad in the public eye. But what if they stop the biggest problem that I’ve repeated over and over; is even in my title. To be able to shoot anyone, you must first have something to shoot with. If they put a stop to guns, and events like these still occur, what will be the excuse of innocent lives being lost? Or will it still be the