The English Assignment

Research Question: Is there a direct correlation between Mass Shootings in America and Mental Illness?
2a: Annotated Bibliography
A. Lankford, A. Lankford, A. Lankford, A (2015). Differences between attackers who survive and those who die in mass shootings in the United States, 1966–2010. Justice Quarterly, vol. 32, no. 2, pp. 360-379.
Lankford, senior associate dean for research at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy, argues in this periodical written by a “Justice Quarteryl” that because mental health records have been made accessible, violence by people with mental illnesses has decreased. Lankford addresses the question of gun control in terms of background checks, based on his sources. He responds by explaining how background checks have assisted in the reduction of crime in some states. He explains how having mental health records accessible will help decrease the number of mass shootings because those with a mental illness will be disqualified from purchasing a firearm. Lankford suggest that the government expand the requirement for background checks as part of gun transfers, such as at gun shows. This article is intended for a general audience curious to learn about background checks. While reading this article it is not obvious that Lankford is an expert on this topic. He relies on his research to provide information on background checks and gun control. He is affiliated with a university newspaper; they just provide information on current events. I will have to do more information on how background checks work when trying to purchase a gun. He doesn’t really mention how it works, he just mentions that metal health records are available. Lankford stated that crime in Connecticut decreased but never provided any statistics to support this claim. This source will help me with giving an overview on how people with a mental illness might be able to purchase a gun.

McGinty, E. E., Frattaroli, S., Appelbaum, P. S., Bonnie, R. J., Grilley, A., Horwitz, J., … & Webster, D. W. (2014). Using research evidence to reframe the policy debate around mental illness and guns: process and recommendations. American journal of public health, 104(11), e22-e26.

In this academic Journal written, the focus of the research is on those who suffer with a mental illness. Aiming toward the general audience, the authors attempt to convince there readers that everyone with a mental illness is not violent. In response, they also tell how people with a mental illness are not reason for the increase in crimes rates, and we shouldn’t just blame them for it. The article also explains how focusing on making gun laws stricter will not help reduce mass shootings. In their eyes, the government needs to figure out alternative ways of providing help to those with a mental illness. Finally they point out that, since budget cuts on health, most mental health patients will most likely end up in jail or the hospital. It is obvious that the authors did their research on this topic. In terms of credibility, I do think they are credible because they are doctors. However, I do not know what type of doctor they are. With further research I found out they are affiliated with a college of physicians that specialize in diagnosis and treatment for adults with illnesses. But, when I try to read about the head person they make me sign up. This source is missing information. Although I believe this article could’ve provided information on how they might approach different patients in terms of treatment. They mostly defend people who have a mental illness instead of explaining why people might have the urge to hurt people. Also it seems like they contradict their claims. This source does help my research because it gives me a different perspective of people with mental illnesses. I can use this to show that not all people who are mentally ill can be dangerous or violent.

Swanson, J. W., McGinty, E. E., Fazel, S., & Mays, V. M. (2015). Mental illness and reduction of gun violence and suicide: bringing epidemiologic research to policy. Annals of epidemiology, 25(5), 366-376.

This Scholarly journal discuss patients with a mental illness who has committed a violent crime. It explains why people with a mental disorder cause harm to others. It provides evidence explaining that in the mass shooting most of the shooters were in the middle of an episode; showing that these individuals were not in the right state of mind. But they also state that is cannot be possible for each incident. The article also provide the factors that triggered these tragedies; untreated seriously mentally ill person with access to military style weapons, and illegal psychoactive drugs. The authors provide many statistics regarding the number of crimes people with a mental illness have committed. As a reader I have to make sure these statistics are accurate. The authors of this article are psychiatrists. They are credible because they know first-hand what mentally ill patients go through. I think they could have included what treatment they provide patients. It would have been a good way for the reader to understand how doctors “cure” their patients. I don’t think this article is one sided or biased because they are just providing information on the mentally ill. With this information I can explain how mentally ill patients eventually trigger and commit mass shootings.

2b: Essay Outline Assignment

The correlation between Mass Shootings in America and Mental Illness and the Influence of Gun Laws

Introduction

Introductory Statement: There is a misconception that most of the gun related crimes involve mentally ill people, evidence indicates that the violence committed by people with mental health issues is a very small percentage, when it occurs it is rarely mass murders

Thesis: Gun laws that are meant to focus entirely on people with mental illness will further propagate the wrong mentality that there is a close link between gun related violence especially mass shootings and mental health and this will increase the stigma against people who suffer from mental health. Unfortunately this will make it harder for such people to seek for psychiatric help and worsen the public health situation.

Summary of main ideas:

Violence by people with serious mental health issues that are gun related are less than three percent which is very low in comparison to those by other people.

Mass shootings are rarely by people with mental health problems; only less than one percent of them are so.

Creating gun laws that aim at controlling gun handling by people with mental health will be only enhancing the misconception that mentally ill people orchestrated gun violence.

Gun laws preventing mentally ill people from handling guns will be ineffective and achieve no significant results as far as stopping mass shootings is involved.

Creating databases that are meant to ensure people with mental illness do not access guns will not do much to curtail individuals who orchestrate mass shootings.

Main Idea #1 Claim:

It is a serious misconception that people with mental health should be regarded as dangerous and everything they do should be monitored.

Evidence:

Research correctly indicates that among the mass shootings and mass murders that have occurred, less than 3% of them were committed by people with mental health issues (McGinty, Frattaroli, Appelbaum, Bonnie, Grilley, Horwitz and Webster, 2014).

Gun laws focused on limiting gun handling by mentally ill people will be a huge waste of public resources and also a waste of time (Swanson, McGinty, Fazel and Mays, 2015).

Significance:

The wrongful perception concerning people with mental illness, and assuming that they are prone to violence needs to be dealt with. Unless the misconception that these people affected by mental illness is changed to and the precious time wasted on making gun laws and policies precisely affecting them is reversed then there will continue to be unnecessary stigmatization of people with mental illness. At the same time, a lot of important public resources will continue to be wasted in formulating policies and creating unnecessary databases to try and curtail people with any form of mental illness from handling guns.

Main Idea #2 Claim:

There are many complex factors that may cause mass shootings and gun violence however, most of these are greatly misunderstood and this has largely to do with the media portraying mentally ill people as having to do with much of the gun-related violence.

Evidence:

The media often wrongly assumes and states as fact that the greatest perpetrators of gun violence are people with some sort of mental illness and this is believed by many to be true (Lankford, 2015).

Although some information from research has indicated that some of the perpetrators of gun violence at times had some of sort of psychiatric problem, this is not always the case and these are often isolated cases and do not indicate any correlation between gun violence and mental illness (Lankford, 2015).

By nature, people and the audience of all media outlets are wired to be more drawn to those news that are greatly violent and most graphic in nature. Often when there is a mass shooting somewhere, in order to be the first one to break the news, reporters often gets the facts wrong and their story ends up empty of facts but full of stereotypes (Lankford, 2015).

Shift in trends and technological advancements have played a huge role in making it harder to get the fact right concerning a mass shooting. In the past, reporters had to rely on law enforcers and the justice system for information regarding any incidents, however in this day and age of social media; it is not easy to get the facts right for a story once it goes right as everyone gives their own version of the story (Lankford, 2015).

Significance:

The input of the media in propagating the stereotype that mass shootings are mostly by people with mental illness cannot be overlooked, and by understanding this factor will the truth of the un-relatedness of these two things come forth.

Main Idea #3 Claim:

There are far more serious sociocultural factors surrounding mass shootings and gun violence that remain unexplored and are overshadowed by the rhetoric on mental illness.

Evidence:

All gun violence has at the core of it a sociocultural aspect and this may not be perceived from the surface by a mere psychiatric diagnosis done independently (Swanson, McGinty, Fazel and Mays, 2015).

One particular aspect that may have a contribution in this is the internet and technology. Nowadays people are more easily influenced by others through online interactions and therefore, more people are more pressured to live a certain way and prove themselves in the eyes of other, this may cause them to go over the edge and this has no connection to mental illness (Swanson, McGinty, Fazel and Mays, 2015).

Significance:

Understanding the real issues behind the mass murders and gun violence will serve a long way in making it clear to people who always make the wrong assumption that people with mental illness are always behind the killings even in instances when it is not true.

Conclusion

Restatement of argument:

There is a misconception held by many people and propagated as truth especially by the media that gun violence and mass shootings are always committed by people with mental illness. There are always other underlying factors behind the mass shooting most of which evidence suggest are sociocultural. Significance of main points:

The misconception of associating mental illness with mass shooting has enhanced stigmatization of people suffering from whatever kind of mental condition. To dismantle this misconception and ensure the media does correct and objective reporting will help people understand how unrelated gun violence and mental illness are.

Concluding statement:

It is imperative and of great importance that all stakeholders involved in making gun policies reconsider their stance and realize that there is almost no connection between the high statistics of homicides, suicides and mass shootings with mental health.

2c: Critical Analysis Essay

The correlation between Mass Shootings in America and Mental Illness and the Influence of Gun Laws

Introduction

There is a misconception that most of the gun related crimes involve mentally ill people, evidence indicates that the violence committed by people with mental health issues is a very small percentage, when it occurs it is rarely mass murders. Gun laws that are meant to focus entirely on people with mental illness will further propagate the wrong mentality that there is a close link between gun related violence especially mass shootings and mental health and this will increase the stigma against people who suffer from mental health. Unfortunately this will make it harder for such people to seek for psychiatric help and worsen the public health situation. Violence by people with serious mental health issues that are gun related are less than three percent which is very low in comparison to those by other people. Mass shootings are rarely by people with mental health problems; only less than one percent of them are so. Creating gun laws that aim at controlling gun handling by people with mental health will be only enhancing the misconception that mentally ill people orchestrated gun violence. Gun laws preventing mentally ill people from handling guns will be ineffective and achieve no significant results as far as stopping mass shootings is involved. Creating databases that are meant to ensure people with mental illness do not access guns will not do much to curtail individuals who orchestrate mass shootings.

Mental Health and Mass Shootings are not Connected

It is a serious misconception that people with mental health should be regarded as dangerous and everything they do should be monitored. Research correctly indicates that among the mass shootings and mass murders that have occurred, less than 3% of them were committed by people with mental health issues (McGinty, Frattaroli, Appelbaum, Bonnie, Grilley, Horwitz and Webster, 2014). Gun laws focused on limiting gun handling by mentally ill people will be a huge waste of public resources and also a waste of time (Swanson, McGinty, Fazel and Mays, 2015). The wrongful perception concerning people with mental illness, and assuming that they are prone to violence needs to be dealt with. Unless the misconception that these people affected by mental illness is changed to and the precious time wasted on making gun laws and policies precisely affecting them is reversed then there will continue to be unnecessary stigmatization of people with mental illness. At the same time, a lot of important public resources will continue to be wasted in formulating policies and creating unnecessary databases to try and curtail people with any form of mental illness from handling guns.

The Media Misreports on Cause of Gun Violence

There are many complex factors that may cause mass shootings and gun violence however, most of these are greatly misunderstood and this has largely to do with the media portraying mentally ill people as having to do with much of the gun-related violence. The media often wrongly assumes and states as fact that the greatest perpetrators of gun violence are people with some sort of mental illness and this is believed by many to be true (Lankford, 2015). Although some information from research has indicated that some of the perpetrators of gun violence at times had some of sort of psychiatric problem, this is not always the case and these are often isolated cases and do not indicate any correlation between gun violence and mental illness (Lankford, 2015). By nature, people and the audience of all media outlets are wired to be more drawn to those news that are greatly violent and most graphic in nature. Often when there is a mass shooting somewhere, in order to be the first one to break the news, reporters often gets the facts wrong and their story ends up empty of facts but full of stereotypes (Lankford, 2015). Shift in trends and technological advancements have played a huge role in making it harder to get the fact right concerning a mass shooting. In the past, reporters had to rely on law enforcers and the justice system for information regarding any incidents, however in this day and age of social media; it is not easy to get the facts right for a story once it goes right as everyone gives their own version of the story (Lankford, 2015). The input of the media in propagating the stereotype that mass shootings are mostly by people with mental illness cannot be overlooked, and by understanding this factor will the truth of the un-relatedness of these two things come forth.

Sociocultural Factors Play a Major Role in Mass Shootings

There are far more serious sociocultural factors surrounding mass shootings and gun violence that remain unexplored and are overshadowed by the rhetoric on mental illness. All gun violence has at the core of it a sociocultural aspect and this may not be perceived from the surface by a mere psychiatric diagnosis done independently (Swanson, McGinty, Fazel and Mays, 2015). One particular aspect that may have a contribution in this is the internet and technology. Nowadays people are more easily influenced by others through online interactions and therefore, more people are more pressured to live a certain way and prove themselves in the eyes of other, this may cause them to go over the edge and this has no connection to mental illness (Swanson, McGinty, Fazel and Mays, 2015). Understanding the real issues behind the mass murders and gun violence will serve a long way in making it clear to people who always make the wrong assumption that people with mental illness are always behind the killings even in instances when it is not true.

Conclusion

There is a misconception held by many people and propagated as truth especially by the media that gun violence and mass shootings are always committed by people with mental illness. There are always other underlying factors behind the mass shooting most of which evidence suggest are sociocultural. The misconception of associating mental illness with mass shooting has enhanced stigmatization of people suffering from whatever kind of mental condition. To dismantle this misconception and ensure the media does correct and objective reporting will help people understand how unrelated gun violence and mental illness are. It is imperative and of great importance that all stakeholders involved in making gun policies reconsider their stance and realize that there is almost no connection between the high statistics of homicides, suicides and mass shootings with mental health.

References

Lankford, A. (2015). Mass shooters in the USA, 1966–2010: Differences between attackers who live and die. Justice Quarterly, 32(2), 360-379.

McGinty, E. E., Frattaroli, S., Appelbaum, P. S., Bonnie, R. J., Grilley, A., Horwitz, J., … & Webster, D. W. (2014). Using research evidence to reframe the policy debate around mental illness and guns: process and recommendations. American journal of public health, 104(11), e22-e26.

Swanson, J. W., McGinty, E. E., Fazel, S., & Mays, V. M. (2015). Mental illness and reduction of gun violence and suicide: bringing epidemiologic research to policy. Annals of epidemiology, 25(5), 366-376.