Mental health screenings the straw man in the gun debate

Gun sculpture

While politicians debate gun control, many agree on mental health screenings as prerequisite for owning a gun, but that is the straw man in the matter of guns and how they are used in the United States.

It is easy to point to the mental health problems of some of the mass shooters as the area of agreement for those wanting to control guns and those wanting to control the behavior that leads to violence. The truth, however, is that most gun deaths are not caused by mentally deranged individuals at all. Instead gun deaths occur primarily as a result of an emotional outburst and the ability to use a gun because one is readily available in the home.

So much for protecting the community, as it turns out the community has to pay to prosecute these crimes or to prove they are crimes in the first place. And the rest of us have to worry about the prattle about the Second Amendment, that bit of prose that is part of a Constitution never meant to be permanent and inviolate for the life of any country. But that's for another article, and right now the issue is gun deaths and why mental health screenings are not the central issue.  In other words, guns kill people. If they weren't readily available, fewer people would die.

A research study in 1996 noted gun deaths to be the eighth leading cause of death in the United States. The CDC, using statistics from 1993 through 1998, showed gun-related injuries to be the second leading cause of injury-related death in the United States. Current statistics show guns to be the seventh leading cause of death. Suicide is excluded from this statistic, as the fifth leading cause of death;  however, it should be noted that a significant number of people kill themselves with guns.

The rate of private gun ownership in the United States is 88.8² firearms per 100 people, with the United States having the highest rate of per capita gun ownership in the world.

This means that most Americans own guns. And the Southern Medical Association reports that having a gun in the house does not increase personal safety but in fact increases the likelihood of a gun being used to kill or increase the risks of violence. This is what the Association observes in an article about gun violence and personal safety: "The most common cause of deaths occurring at homes where guns are present, by far, is suicide. Many of these self-inflicted gunshot wounds appear to be impulsive acts by people without previous evidence of mental illness. Guns in the home are also associated with a fivefold increase in the rate of intimate partner homicide, as well as an increased risk of injuries and death to children."

Guns kill people. Mental health screenings are meant to assess those most at risk for using a gun, yet most gun deaths are domestic or are used in suicides. Those who point to mental health problems as the principal problem in the use of guns in the United States do so in order to avoid the critical issue, the number of guns, the availability of them, as the principal reason for their use and for the violence related to the gun.

Mental illness and gun deaths: the devil is in the details

[caption id="attachment_4340" align="alignleft" width="640"] Guns non violence sculpture[/caption]

Carol Forsloff ---In the past 48 hours newspapers across the country have reported incidents of shootings, many of which have occurred during of domestic disputes during the past week.  So as public officials and ordinary citizens debate gun control and mental illness, how would mental illness be defined and under what conditions?

The following are just a few of the gun incidents that happened between family members during the past week, as reported by the nation's newspapers:

Steven R. Johnson, age 34, allegedly shot his wife, Manya,  to death, then dismembered her body and stashed the remains in a friend’s garage.  St Paul, Minnesota, according to the New York Daily News.

This past week in Kentucky police reported 68-year-old Tommie Summers shot and killed 67-year-old Linda Summers and their son, 38-year-old Brian Summers., then killed himself.

In Ravenden, Arkansas Robert Shouse was arrested and charged with attempted murder after shooting at his wife's car as he followed her vehicle down a rural road.

In Gardendale, Alabama:  54-year-old Dr. Terry Greer, a local pastor,  reportedly shot and killed his wife, 52-year-old Lisa Greer,

In Hayden, Idaho police reported that Daryl Clark shot and killed his wife, Tina,  leaving behind a young son.

In Dallas, Texas Ferdinand Smith allegedly shot and killed his wife, Karen,  as she was leaving work and is being held on a charge of murder.  He is also being held on a charge of felony family violence assault after being accused of previously attacking his wife in December.

In Circleville, Ohio a man was hospitalized after shooting at his wife.  He missed, then shot himself, but was lucid and talking at the hospital according to initial reports.

These were not mass shootings but rather the type of gun violence police often report around the nation.  Would these shooters be classified as mentally ill according to the discussions presently taking place about gun control, when these incidents constitute the bulk of the "non-criminal" shootings, i.e. gun deaths unrelated to any other crime?

The Southern Poverty Law Center has seen an uptick in the membership of hate groups, many of whom have been found to have stashes of weapons.  Would these people be classified as mentally ill?

Depression is the major mental illness around the world.  It constitutes a mental illness in the psychiatric categorization of mood disorders.  Would someone with a history of depression be among those restricted from having a gun under potential and existing gun laws?

While gun rights advocates point to mental illness and the media as critical areas of examination and restriction, the ambiguities in classifying  those mental illness as well as the fact that many gun deaths, unrelated to other crimes, occur between people who know each other offer complex questions for those anticipating changes in gun laws.

It is indeed the devil in the details that make the issue of gun control far more complex than simply restricting gun ownership of the mentally ill or those with criminal histories.