Ladson Anderson

UWRT 1104

Prof. Lazzara

10/25/18

Mental Illness and Gun Violence

Is it fair to blame people with mental illness for our cultural problem with gun violence. I

say no, and research on the subject backs up my claim. This essay will explore my personal

experience with specially abled students, give a brief overview of different mental illnesses and

then proceed to examine previous studies, which all point to my conclusion that mentally ill

people play a minuscule role in the pandemic of violence this country suffers from. All

throughout my high school career I had the privilege to work with my school’s special needs

programs. This was by far one of the best experiences I had during high school’ because they

were some of the nicest people you could ever talk to. Everyday I saw them they would come up

and give me a hug or do one of our secret hand shakes and ask me how my day was going and if

that doesn't make someone smile nothing will. From helping them with their homework, to

helping compete at the special olympics, and working at the special needs prom, everything was

so much fun. For those of you who don't know what the special olympics is I would highly

recommend volunteering for it and getting involved. Before the event takes place you get to

work with the kids and help train them to get them ready a few weeks before the event. The

special olympics gives the kids a chance to go compete other kids with special needs in events

like running, long toss and other olympic events, and they have an absolute blast while doing so.
The other event I had the pleasure of helping with the the special needs prom. This was a dance

that we had every year since many of the kids were not able to attend the regular prom and other

dances because of the amount of people and all the noise that went along with it. Being able to

host a dance like this was a lot of work, but it was definitely worth it in the end to see how much

fun the students would have. They are just like me and you and love to have fun and interact with

others, but they just have a harder time doing that with the circumstances they are given.

Mental illness is a medical condition that can disrupt a person's feelings, thinking, mood

and daily functioning and is often more serious than some people make it seem (Parekh 2018).

This type of illness is not something that you can just get rid of by just pushing through it. It

often times gets worse the longer it's ignored, which is a big problem because people often feel

as if they would be judged or thought of as “crazy” if they were to come forward about the

problem. Even though it is hard to come forward and address the problem, those who do address

the problem have a 70%-90% decrease in their symptoms (Parekh, 2018).

Mental illness is also not limited by somebody's age or race even though it is possible to

gain mental illness as you grow in age such as dementia. Dementia is a disease that affects

cognitive and behavioral functions. These illnesses can affect a person's ability to think, act in

certain situations and be able to control themselves. Some of the most serious mental illnesses

that are prevalent in the United States are post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), schizophrenia,

obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), and personality disorder but the most common mental

illness is Anxiety disorder and Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). These mental

illnesses often have a huge impact on a person's ability to make reasonable thoughts and actions,

which can cause them to behave in inconsistent ways. However, this behavior can often be
subdued with medication. Even though many of these mental illnesses are diseases that a person

can develop in their brain and are not really impacted by the community around you there are

certain problems that can lead to mental illness and dangerous behavior.

The abuse cycle is an example of how the community around somebody can cause mental

illnesses and/or dangerous behavior. The abuse cycle relies on the use of domestic violence and

abuse, which can come in forms of mental abuse or physical abuse (White Ribbon, 2018). Many

people fail to realize that they are caught up in the abuse cycle when its just psychological abuse

because they often aren't able to see what's going on. Often times people tend to relate domestic

violence or abuse with the hitting of another person when often times it mainly relies on the

psychological side of abuse. The abuser wants to feel like they have control of everything going

on and will often say anything to make it seem like they have to power. They will often use fear,

guilt and intimidation to wear their victim down and make it so you feel as if they don't have an

option to leave. There are many different signs to let you know if you are in an abusive

relationship or not and the most common one is that you are afraid of the person and you feel as

if you are being controlled. Some other key signs to know if you are in an abusive relationship

are if you feel helpless, if your partner humiliates you, if they constantly criticize you, and they

blame you for their behavior. If you notice just one of these signs it's important that you get out

of the relationship immediately before it can cause permanent psychological damage or mental

illness.

The cycle of violence theory is one such that if a kid were to be abused or had seen a lot

of violence in their earlier years, they were more likely to commit a crime (White Ribbon, 2018).

It is the called the “cycle” of violence theory because it acts like a cycle. The abuse cycle starts
when the person is exposed to abuse or gets used to seeing a lot of violence between other people

at a younger age which can cause them to become aggressive themselves, which can lead them to

being aggressive and abusive towards others such as their kids or just random people. This then

causes the people they abuse to repeat the cycle and it just keeps going on and on. This type of

mental illness is not something that one is just born with but rather something that you develop

through experience. The cycle is then repeated endlessly. This type of mental illness is not

something that one is born with, but rather something that is developed through negative

experiences. And where is the sympathy for these victims? It seems that anti-gun activists and

the media often blast "criminals’'" faces all over the news, calling them all sorts of names, when

in reality they are victims themselves​.​ Yes, they are the ones who committed the crime but what

if their parents had mistreated them all of their life, and they had seen their parents use guns and

mistreat them? I believe it's possible that this cycle of violence could lead to someone lashing out

in a gun violence incident because violence may have become "normalized" for them. This type

of mistreatment growing up could also lead to mental illness in people. But how does all of this

tie into gun violence?

Gun violence has been a huge problem the past few decades. Thousands of people have

died due to gun violence but even more have been affected by it from losing family and friends

to seeing it happen in person. The most well-known type of gun violence that has been a huge

problem lately is mass shooting. People often assume that when somebody does something like

this they must have some sort of mental illness when in fact less than 3% of all violent crimes are

committed by people with mental illness.(Knoll 2016) But why are they the ones being blamed?
 Oftentimes gun activist need somebody to blame right after an incident like a mass

shooting and the mentally ill are usually first to blame because people think that only somebody

that is crazy could commit such an awful crime. People pointing fingers and putting the blame on

people with mental illness has given them a bad reputation. This bad reputation that they are

receiving also has a huge impact on their lives. With people thinking that mentally ill people are

“bad” causes them not to vote for things such as mental health care. Another interesting fact I

found was that people with mental illness are actually eleven times more likely to be the victim

of a violent act because they might seem like an easier target than most (Ross 2018). Even with

all these facts and research the media still thinks it's all right to blame the mentally ill for these

horrific crimes.

According to “Evaluating Gun Policy” by Jens Ludwig, the United States has an

unusually high rate of both gun ownership and murder. This raises the question of whether adults

should be able to carry firearms or not. This question has been debated very heavily from both

sides. Some believe that people should be able to carry guns because they could potentially stop

a mass shooting or murder while others believe that we should not be able to carry guns because

the more guns there are on the streets, the more likely gun violence is to occur. The reason that

there is such differing opinions is because there is no sound evidence that one is better than the

other (Ludwig 2002). While America has over 200 millions guns in circulations, only one fourth

of all Americans own guns (Ludwig J). The Majority of people who have guns other than

handguns likely use them for hunting and sport shooting and are much less likely to commit any

crimes with them (Ludwig 2002). With this many guns in circulations is it possible to lower gun

violence rates?
 Even though most guns in circulation today come from a license dealer, almost 30-40%

of all guns are not bought from licensed dealers but rather through a secondary market (Ludwig

J). Another important fact is that almost 500,000 guns are stolen every year (Ludwig J). With

this many guns being stolen and sold in secondary markets, it makes it almost impossible to put

an end to gun violence. In 1999 there were 28,874 people who died from firearms whether it be

homicide, suicide or an accident and this number has done nothing but increase in the following

years (Ludwig J). But what can be done to help of fix this issue?

According to Jens Ludwig, “ Federal law affords most people access to most types of

gun; the law is permissive but with delineated exceptions, specifying certain categories of people

that are banned from possession, and certains guns that are banned of tightly regulated.”

Companies that sell guns are required to have a license and all sales records are kept. There

haven't been many policies to try and change how guns are regulated but one in particular that is

still used today is the Gun Control Act (GCA). The GCA prevents minors, illegal aliens, those

confined by court order of mental illness and those with felonies from purchasing firearms. In

order for somebody to buy a gun, they must have a ID and undergo a background check to make

sure they are eligible. The background check isn't very rigorous even though it should focus on

more areas because focusing on mental illness isn't as important as focusing on something such

as previous arrest records that were not felonies. I believe that there should also be a certain

waiting period for when you receive you firearms because some people will get mad and on

impulse go buy a gun and this waiting period could let them have some time to think about the

situation.
 Not only will these restrictions on purchasing guns help with gun violence, it will also

help with the suicide rate which is the most major concern of people with mental illness and

guns. According to Julie beck in her article,”Untangling Gun Violence From Mental Health” she

writes,”​Overall, the study concluded, “[the results] would seem to suggest that suicide, not

homicide, should be the crux of gun violence prevention efforts focused on people with serious

mental illnesses in public systems of care.” Suicide among people with mental illness is a big

problem in the United States. I would suggest instead of just blaming the mentally ill for crimes

that they didn't commit, that we actually help them with new policies and trying to find ways to

get them the proper help that they need.

From my own personal experiences I think that it is safe to say that specially abled are

some of the kindest people that you can meet. They have the biggest hearts and always put a

smile on my face. I think its just wrong that they are catching the bad end of the whole gun

violence issue. It's not fair to blame them for things that didn't have anything to do with. Balming

them has a negative impact on their lives whether others see it or not. I hope that others will have

the same opportunity that I did to work with mentally ill kid or even adults because I created

some great bonds with people that I will never forget.

Beck, J. The Atlantic - Untangling Gun Violence from Mental Illness. (2016). Retrieved from
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Bertenthal, Karen H., Miner. (2007) Bringing the War Back Home. Retrieved From
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Birkland T., Lawrence R. (2009) Media Framing and Policy Changing After Columbine.
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Blumstein A.,Cork D.(1996) Linking Gun Availability to Youth Gun Violence. Retrieved From
https://www.jstor.org/stable/1192207?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents

Cook P., Ludwig J. (2000) Gun Violence: The Real Cost. Oxford University: Philip J. Cook
Retrieved From
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Cook P., Ludwig L. (2002) Evaluating Gun Policy: Effects on Crime and Violence. Retrieved
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Knoll J., Annus G. (2016) Mass Shootings and Mental Illness. Retrieved From
https://psychiatryonline.org/doi/pdf/10.5555/appi.books.9781615371099

Parekh, R. (2018, August). What is Mental Illness? Retrieved from

https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/what-is-mental-illness

Ross, P. (2018). Mental health and gun violence – Healthcare in America. Retrieved from
https://healthcareinamerica.us/mental-health-and-gun-violence-607dbb564fb6

What is the cycle of violence and cycle of abuse? |. (2018). Retrieved from
https://www.whiteribbon.org.au/understand-domestic-violence/what-is-domestic-violenc
e/cycle-of-violence​/