February 22, 2018

The blurry line between gun violence and mental health

located:	USA
editor:	Shira Jeczmien

Sinisterly monikered the ‘mass shooting generation’, those who have been going to school in the US following the 1999 Columbine massacre know exactly what it means when they hear the words ‘code red’. Raised with the fear of one day being in the shooting field of yet another gun during a school shooting, children and teachers in the US are perhaps quicker to find shelter inside a utilities cupboard than they are to question the very mechanism that birthed the west’s most deadly country for gun violence.

Following yet another tragic attack that saw the lives of 17 young individuals being taken by former pupil, 19 year old Nikolas Cruz, during a normal school day afternoon at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, questions of gun violence, laws and norms began to flood once more. Yet just like all the times that came before it, rather than discussing ‘code red’ and a country that has normalised school shootings, talks about mental health surfaced instead. “No parent should ever have to fear for their child’s safety when they kiss them goodbye in the morning.” Said Donald Trump in a press conference shortly after the Florida shooting took place. “We are committed to working with state and local leaders to help secure our schools and tackle the difficult issue of mental health” he continues.

There are many troubling aspects to Trump’s quick attribution of this shooting to mental health. The first is that it is perhaps too quick to assume the psychological profile of Cruz, given that not enough has yet been determined on his condition or history. The second is that since his inauguration, one of the only actions Trump’s administration has taken on gun policy was signing a congressional repeal of an Obama-era rule that restricted gun ownership for Social Security beneficiaries who have a psychiatric disability and use a “representative payee” to help manage their finances. Lastly, whether or not Cruz suffers from mental health issues will not help tackle the root cause of mass shootings in the US but will only diffuse the urgency and distract from the pressing conversation needed to be had about gun laws in the country.

Trump’s deliberate mention of mental health instead of gun law reform feeds into a bigger issue at play: of drawing a picture of our times that is filled with the incomprehensibility that is often stapled onto mental illness. Gun control is a matter of laws whereas mental health is a complex network of health support, of social services; of politics and in some ways, of the randomness with which it touches those it affects. As long as Trump and his administration keep unloading the country’s mass shootings onto ‘mental illness’ then gun laws can continue being overlooked.

It’s crucial to reintroduce laws like the one Trump was quick to scrap, where stricter policies are used for purchasing firearms. It is equally important to increase medical and psychological support for people who suffer from mental health issues, but this is not at all the point here. As writer Aliya S. King simply puts it, “Sometimes “normal” people do super-awful things. Like open fire on hapless folks just gathered to listen to some music. Sometimes “abnormal” people do super-awful things. Like open fire on hapless folks just gathered to listen to some music.” What is undeniable is that strict laws on firearms will help reduce the possibility of any act of violence, be it by someone suffering from mental ill health or otherwise.