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The occupier of the Oval Office is so devoid of empathy, he had to have a crib sheet reminding him to try display some to the grieving children, parents, and teachers at the "listening session" held Wednesday at the White House. His Thursday morning tweet tirade dispelled any lingering hope that maybe he heard something in that session to make him have human feelings.
Three times in the tantrum, Trump attributed shootings to mentally illness: "savage sicko" and "sicko shooter." This is apparently is the tack the NRA has decided to take. At the CNN town hall, where their venomous spokesmonster Dana Loesch used the terms "insane monster," "nuts," "crazy," and "madman" in just her first answer. Set aside the part where she's arguing the shooter shouldn't have passed a background check because he was an insane monster despite the fact that the NRA has opposed background checks for decades AND the fact that in 2014 she herself argued "Everyone wants to classify everything as a 'mental health issue' so it absolves people of responsibility for their own actions."
So let's talk about that. Let's talk about mental illness which Trump, propped up by these new NRA talking points, has decided is one of the things to focus on. Here's the reality:
Overall, mass shootings by people with serious mental illness represent 1 percent of all gun homicides each year, according to the book “Gun Violence and Mental Illness” published by the American Psychiatric Association in 2016. [...]
In actual fact, mentally ill people are far more likely to be the victims of violence than the perpetrators. So a very small percentage of gun violence is carried out by the mentally ill, and perhaps could be prevented by more rigorous background checks (the very first thing the Republican Congress and Trump rolled back when he took office). It could also presumably be prevented with better access to mental healthcare.
So let's talk about Trump and the Republican and mental health.
Medicaid covers about 21 percent of adults with mental illness and 26 percent of adults with serious mental illness, as well as 17 percent of adults with substance abuse disorders. Trump and the Republican Congress are doing everything in their power to gut Medicaid.
Let's talk about the Affordable Care Act and the essential health benefits it requires every insurance policy to contain—yep, mental healthcare is one of those things. What's Trump doing? Yep, undermining the law by letting insurance companies sell "short-term" policies that don't include those benefits. So that tiny percentage of mentally ill people who might turn violent will have less access to the treatment that could prevent it.
Now, let's talk about who might be likely to turn into a violent shooter.
In a 2015 paper, Swanson, Harvard's Ronald Kessler, and five co-authors sought to identify how many Americans show a pattern of impulsive angry behavior. So they looked at data from a survey that just asked people. Specifically, it asked if they agreed with one of three statements:
- “I have tantrums or angry outbursts.”
- “Sometimes I get so angry I break or smash things.”
- “I lose my temper and get into physical fights.”
We don’t know with certainty that this group is likelier to impulsively use firearms. But it stands to reason they would be.
About 8.9 percent of Americans, the study found, report one of these behaviors and have a gun at home; that’s roughly 22 million adults. And 1.5 percent (3.6 million) report one of the behaviors and carry guns with them outside the house. “Fewer than 10 percent have ever been in a hospital for mental health or substance abuse,” Swanson says. Barring people with severe mental illness from getting guns isn’t going to reach this population.
Tantrums and angry outbursts? Impulse control issues? Sound like anyone we know?
Should we be doing everything possible to make sure unstable people do not get their hands on weapons of mass destruction? Absolutely. And the NRA and its congressional lackeys have done everything in the power to make sure law enforcements hands are tied. Should the tiny percentage of potentially violent mentally ill people get treatment before they get a gun? Absolutely, and the Republican Congress and president are doing everything in their power to take that treatment away.
By their very actions, Republicans are undercutting their own message that they care about gun violence and the mentally ill. What they are doing with their rhetoric is dangerous. It not only deflects attention and energy away from the real problem—the insane number of guns we have in this country—it further stigmatizes mental illness.
That could keep people who need help from getting it. Which by their every action seems to be precisely what Republicans want.