Gun Rights And Mental Illness Essay

In addition, “The perceived link between mental illness and violence could lie in television and films that sensationalize murders committed by mentally ill persons…” (Callahan). The problem with people with mental illness being categorized as being violent is with popular TV shows showing people crimes such as murder being committed by people with mental illnesses. The media also plays a huge role in the reason why people with mental health issues are thought of as violent because they talk more about crimes such as murder being done where mental illness played a

In today's world there is a big debate on what we should do with guns. Some think we should ban guns, or limit gun possession. Others think we should keep our guns, after all, we have the Second Amendment, which protects the right for civilians to bear arms. But i believe there is another option, I think there is a link between the mass shootings and mental disabilities and diseases, and if that’s true, we should worry about that. According

The question of Gun control is in the news. The subject comes up with each election along with the latest tragedy statistics. Both sides of the debate throw explicit words towards the other, it all turns into an argument and there seems to never be any agreement. It 's very disparaging to me to see the innocent lives of children taken and for a defense gun owners hide behind what amounts to a 400 year old scrap of paper which is neither relevant to modern day problems or understood the same way by any two people reading from it. It really goes to show the poor quality of the generation of people we are in. An example would be, they play the same Christmas songs from 300 years ago and half of them have never seen a sleigh bell or ate a

The debate over gun control is not a new argument, neither is the existence of mental illness. There have been those who support and those who oppose gun control for many years. What has recently re-ignited the debate is an increase in mass shootings over the past few decades; one in particular is the Newtown, Connecticut, massacre. Incidents, such as this, fuel anger and fear, driving many to question the need for firearms in modern society, while others cite these incidents as a reason for remaining armed. The purpose of gun control is to limit the amount of violence in today’s

“Guns don’t kill people, people do.” This is a well known statement that is oftentimes considered true. However, it is not completely true. Someone who is mentally ill may be unable to make logical decisions and the perception they receive of reality may be tainted by the illness. Gun laws pertaining to those suffering mental illnesses should be more restrictive. Weapons such as guns make committing an act of violence, especially when there are multiple victims, much easier. It is difficult to assess the probability of a person to commit a violent act that harms anyone including himself/herself. Therefore, gun laws need be monitored very closely and made more consistent throughout each state in order to prevent violence that could

After a mass shooting event, the public’s focus often shifts to gun control, as well as the state of our mental health system. “Research suggests that mass shootings can increase mental health stigma, reinforce negative stereotypes that people with mental illness are dangerous and violent,

People with mental illnesses are referred to a wide range of mental health conditions disorders that affect your mood, thinking, and behavior. Examples like Autism, Anxiety Issues, and many more that affect them. It is so easy for anyone to get guns. About over 300 million have been made and sold to people in 2012, so there is a large supply of them. (My Turn: Should People with Mental Illnesses Own Guns?”, 2015). You can easily get one by just bribing a stranger or from a family member so it’s very easy to get one. There should be stricter gun control laws for those individuals with a mental illness history because guns are falling into the hands of people whose actions are unpredictable, research shows that many of the crimes committed are by those with a known mental illness, and the current wait time for owning a gun allows people with a mental illness to act without seeking help first.

“When Governments fear the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny.” (Beck 35). This quote is from one of the greatest men in the history of the United States of America, Thomas Jefferson, the father of the Declaration of Independence, and the third President of the United States. The validity of his statement is not only historical, but as pertinent today as it was when spoken anew. It is learned in schools across the nation, although the importance of the words depends on the teacher, school, and region of the country. During the revolutionary period, King George learned this same concept the hard way, “…an armed populace is a populace that will not be pushed around.”

Has the deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill led to the increase of mass shootings experienced in the US? According to Lankford, several reports suggest that up to 60% of offenders of mass shootings in the US since 1970, exhibited symptoms including depression, delusions, and acute paranoia prior to the commission of their crimes. Further statistics have shown that since 1982, there have been at least 71 public mass shooting across the country; with 34 of these mass shooting having occurred since 2006. A recent analysis of the database by researchers at Harvard University corroborated by a recent FBI study concluded that mass shootings have been on the rise. More than half of the cases involve school or workplace shootings, 12 and 20

In his essay “We need to stop the next Aurora Not with Gun Control but with Better Mental Health Treatment” David R. Dow explains how gun control is not the problem in mass shootings. Instead mental health is the real problem. I also believe what Dow expresses in his essay. If we help those whom we ignore and pretend aren’t there then these violent crimes will start to disappear. He wrote the essay to help prevent more shootings, by informing the public on what the real problem is.

More times than not when the issue of gun control is brought into conversation the Second Amendment is the center of attention and many believe that “gun ownership is an American tradition older than the country itself and is protected by the Second Amendment” (Metzel and Kenneth). The primary reason for the creation of this amendment was to make certain that every person could legally bear arms, allowing individuals and families to feel safe in their own homes. It is safe to say that homes should be a secure place to lay down at night, and owning a weapon can allow one to have a sense of peace. Therefore, viewing the big picture of gun control can leave one opposing the whole idea. A person knows that they are going to be smart and rational with a firearm, but they need to consider how another person is going to function with that kind of power in their hands. Every person in this world functions differently, and mental illness plays a huge role in the way a person’s brain works. Within the United States since 1970 it is statistically proven that at least 60% of people who committed a mass shooting exhibited symptoms of paranoia, delusions, or depression, before committing

because many people believe that if there were no guns there would be no shooting. Several of the shootings were committed by an individual with severe mental health issues (Mcginty et al. 2014). There has been much debate over whether mental illness breads violence or not (Mcginty et al. 2014). Some studies indicate that people struggling with depression are more likely to commit suicide and if a gun is available then chances of a gun related death will increase (Mcginty et al. 2014). There hasn’t been a strong policy implemented to gun control involving mental health. However gun restriction policies have been centered on people with dangerous behaviors such as offenders who have been convicted of domestic violence and offenders who are convicted of felonies (Mcginty et al. 2014). RAT suggests that a crime will be committed if there is little preventing the crime from happening. Gun control policies have been structured around hindering easy access to guns. Other policies incorporated in to gun laws require owners to register their weapons and do not allow gun owners to just sell their guns to just anyone (Mcginty et al. 2014). There has been more structure implemented into the process.

Advocating for the mentally ill has become my life quest, yet the sad truth is that the rule of law does not fully protect this population of people. All to often the rights of individuals living with mental health conditions are infringed upon by elected officials who see the mentally ill as a proxy solution for the gun crisis we face in America. This minority group of society is seen as the perpetrator of violence and crime when data clear articulates the opposite. Yet, the data is ignored, the mental ill are stigmatized, and the only state in the union with the Mental Health Services Act continues to see widespread disparities among those living with mental health challenges. Thus, I’d like to further my mental health advocating abilities by pursuing public interest law.

On December 14, 2012 a very deadly and upsetting incident happened in Newtown, Connecticut. The murderer was later revealed as Adam Lanza. He was a 20 year old man who had been said to have been diagnosed with a sensory integration disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder. For Lanza, growing up could be considered arduous. He had been in and out of treatment for multiple said “diagnoses” and other undiagnosed “problems”. He also took medication for his supposed OCD. His parents often would mistake his odd behaviors as a simple childhood or teenage stage. Before the school shooting, Lanza had killed his mother by lethal force at her Newton house. Lanza had shot 6 children and 20 adults fatally. After all was done, Lanza had committed suicide by shooting himself in the head.

Meaning, most Americans think that those with a mental disease can be harmful to others. There have been many assumptions made by researchers to why someone would want to harm a school full of students and faculty. When a school shooting occurs, people in our society instantly think it is just a mental illness. There are several different definitions to “mental illness.” The practical description of a mental illness consists of some kind of disorder in the present “Diagnostic and Statically Manual of Mental Disorders.” Jonathan Metzl and Kenneth MacLeish were two professors at Vanderbilt University that stated, “The definition of mental illness changes over time. In the 1980s, for instance, homosexuality was considered a mental illness. Since then there has been a “consistent broadening of diagnostic categories and an expanding number of persons classifiable as ‘mentally ill.’” In most of the early 19th century, schizophrenia was viewed as an “illness of docility.” Now, society links schizophrenia with violence and guns.” Metzl and MacLeish studies showed being mentally ill consist of things such as, anxiety, depression, and lack attention. The two professors found that being “mentally ill” have no connection to the overall horrendous crimes being committed in school shootings. In other words, the person