Mass Shootings Research Paper

Mental health care and gun violence meet at a very bumpy crossroad. According to Paul Ryan, Speaker of the House, “What we have seen – and a common theme among many of these mass shootings – is a theme of mental illness” (Flores). Adam Lanza, Seung Hui Cho, James Holmes, Elliot Rodgers, Aaron Alexis, and Dylann Roof: what do these six men have in common? They are all mass shooters that were diagnosed as mentally ill. All six of these men have failed to detect their illness and properly treat it.

Much of the criminal activity that takes place today is heavily related to the lack of treatment for mental illness. According to the US National Library of Medicine, approximately 60% of shooter in mass shootings that took place in the United States after 1970 displayed symptoms of acute paranoia, delusions, and depression before committing their inhumane acts. I am sure that most of you are aware of the Sandy Hook shooting that took place on December 12, 2012. The perpetrator, Adam Lanza took the innocent lives of 20 students as well as the lives of 6 staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Lanza had displayed key signs of mental illness as young as the age of three.

Many different views are taken when it comes to gun control and mass shootings. Some believe that the only cause is the guns themselves. Others believe that it is gun control laws, yet "by a more than 2-to-1 margin, more people say mass shootings reflect problems identifying and treating people with mental health problems rather than inadequate gun control laws (63 percent to 23 percent)" (Craighill and Clement 2). Regardless, many people

Most people that commit violent gun crimes are mentally ill, for example the last school shooting that occured on february 14 2018 at Marjory stoneman douglas high school in parkland florida, the gunman Nikolas Cruz was mentally ill. He walked into the school with his guns and shot and killed 17 students and a teacher. He had issues with learning, and controlling his emotions and stuff. (source)

Everyday, people that suffer from mental illnesses, drive towards committing suicide. Suicide is growing at a disgustingly fast rate, but, if America restrains gun access, it could reduce suicide rates by over one third (washington post.) According to Washington Post, “... in the U.S. 50 percent of suicides are committed with guns.” Thousands of people are leaving their friends and families behind everyday with firearms, and we can stop this.

Regulating guns will not stop all of the killings that are occurring in America, and there are better ways to cease the killings than regulating guns. Body Paragraph One: Topic Sentence: Regulating mental health will be more effective in ceasing killings with guns than regulating guns. In an analysis provided, 22 percent of the perpetrators of 235 mass killing, could be considered mentally ill, many of which were carried out with firearms (Qui). Almost 25% of mass shooting killers are being considered mentally ill

The thought of a mass shooting happening puts fear into the mind of human beings, and the thought of possibly putting a stop to them by providing better mental health services to people may be a soothing thought to people. But like abortion and gun control, Everyone has an opinion that can’t be ignored on the topic. There’s people who think that mental health issues causes the mass shootings, and then there’s the people who beg to differ and think that mental health doesn’t play a role in them(mass shootings) at all and think that people use the mental health as a reason to justify the shootings. Now we come to the million dollar question, Is mental illness the reason for mass shootings? One thing is for sure, Rampage Violence needs a new type of

School shootings and gun violence have regrettably become a major issue in America today. The frequency of these acts of hatred are increasing and an increasing number of people are debating about necessary precautions. The most recent school shooting in America occurred this past week and the victims of it are raising their voices for the world to hear. There needs to be better, more efficient policies put in place regarding school safety and gun control to ensure this type of heinous crime does not happen ever again. There are people who say this is a matter of mental illness and others who say this is about gun control.

On October 1st, 2015 President Barack Obama released a speech regarding the devastating mass shooting at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon. President Obama’s main argument, in his speech, was that we as a nation have put so much money to prevent other disasters but have, for the most part, ignored the idea of proceeding with gun control laws to prevent situations like mass shootings. The President mentions how “it's fair to say that anybody who does this has a sickness in their minds, regardless of what they think their motivations may be. But we are not the only country on Earth that has people with mental illnesses or want to do harm to other people.

There are more people incarcerated who have a mental illness that there are in psychiatric hospitals. (Psychology Today). Mental Health America reports that “there are more than 1.2 million people currently residing in prisons and/or jails with a mental health condition and lack of access to mental health care”. (MHA). 40% of adults with a serious mental illness will be arrested at some point in their lifetime, usually for disturbing the peace or for a petty crime which are caused by their mental illness.

Gun Control and Mass Shootings in America Gun violence is an unquestionable issue in America, with the United States ranking as one of the worst with both homicides and suicides using guns. That being said, we outnumber Mexico in gun related deaths and among first-world countries we rank far above others in the number of gun deaths, such as England and Australia. Consequently, we live in one of the only first world countries that does not have extensive gun laws and restrictions to gun access. Aside from the countless homicides and suicides by firearm in this country, one particular issue within this predicament is mass shootings, with the most recent mass shooting occurring on February 14th, 2018 at a high school in Parkland, Florida where 17 people were killed. Although, it may seem like an easy fix to just implement gun control laws into our society to eliminate gun violence, but it is important to note that Americans own nearly half of all firearms globally, which is roughly 325 million guns;

Various preventable high profile violent crimes involving the use of firearms have increasingly occurred numerous times in recent years. The events from Virginia Tech, Charleston Church, Colorado Movie Theater, Sandy Hook shootings along with others are clear messages displaying why the United States should implement greater gun control laws. The mass shootings are only increasing with time as little is done to take preventative measures on gun possession. According to Mona Chalabi from The Guardian, “An analysis from the Harvard School of Public Health and Northeastern University last year found that between 1982 and 2011 mass shootings occurred every 200 days on average. Between 2011 and 2014, they occurred every 64 days” (Chalabi, 2015,

Passing gun control legislation that creates a universal background check and gun database system as well as passing mental health legislation that improves the health care system’s protocols and policies for assisting people with mental health disorders and that enacts counseling programs in communities and schools will decrease the likelihood of mass shootings in schools. The United States is bitterly divided. Issues of great concern, such as the rise of mass shootings, are partisanized. Both sides of the debate will not comprise or listen to what their opponents have to say. Groups from both sides can only agree that one innocent life taken from gun violence is one too many.

Many people say that the real weapon used is rage. Guns are not bad things or good things. They are things, inanimate objects, chunks of metal with no will of their own (Medred 2). Why do we as a society not address mental illness more? The majority of all “school shooters” are misfits.

Mass shooting episodes have increased over recent decade and received substantial media coverage during the last year. Multiple schools, clubs, and churches, and public places across the United States have been impacted, resulting in the deaths of innocent people.