If all a society focuses on is mental illness in regard to murder, it will miss the real problem.
December 15, 2015
By The Editorial Board
...But mass shootings (click here) represent a small percentage of all gun violence, and mental illness is not a factor in most violent acts. According to one epidemiological estimate, entirely eliminating the effects of mental illness would reduce all violence by only 4 percent. Over all, less than 5 percent of gun homicides between 2001 and 2010 were committed by people with diagnoses of mental illness, according to a public health study published this year.
December 15, 2015
By The Editorial Board
...But mass shootings (click here) represent a small percentage of all gun violence, and mental illness is not a factor in most violent acts. According to one epidemiological estimate, entirely eliminating the effects of mental illness would reduce all violence by only 4 percent. Over all, less than 5 percent of gun homicides between 2001 and 2010 were committed by people with diagnoses of mental illness, according to a public health study published this year.
Blaming mental health problems for gun violence in America gives the public the false impression that most people with mental illness are dangerous, when in fact a vast majority will never commit violence. Still, some legal changes should be made to reduce access to firearms among the small percentage of people with mental illness who are dangerous to themselves or others.
Estimates of the percentage of mass shooters who are mentally ill vary widely, as both “mass shooting” and “mental illness” can be difficult to define. One recent analysis of murderers who killed or intended to kill four or more people found that 22 percent of male killers exhibited evidence of mental illness (the share was higher among women, but the sample was much smaller). Another analysis, by the group Everytown For Gun Safety, found that in about 11 percent of shootings between January 2009 and July 2015 in which four or more people were killed, concerns about the killer’s mental health had been reported to a doctor or other authority before the crime took place....
October 27, 2015
By Mark Follman
...What's most troubling (click here) about these results and the question that prompted them is that they perpetuate a dangerous stigmatization. The vast majority of mentally ill people are not violent. I wrote about this in my recent Mother Jones cover story on threat assessment, a growing strategy for stopping mass shooters that relies on collaboration between mental health and law enforcement experts:...
There are a lot of guns on the street of the USA. They are there because citizens purchased them. Start there. Who bought them and why?
Sandy Hook would not have been averted because of mental health checks. The murderer of small children received guns, including a Bush Master, from his mother's willingness to allow them in the house.
The mother, now deceased, was a straw purchaser. Her mentally ill son was allowed to practice gun shooting by his parent. Nothing the USA has as laws or background checks would have stopped those murders.
We also know that a police officer on a school campus does not prevent mass murderers. The murderers are smart enough to know they have to follow the police officer in the school to find an opportune time to carry out their crime. Having armed police officers does not guarantee the prevention of gun violence.
January 27, 2015
By The Chicago Defender
October 27, 2015By Mark Follman
...What's most troubling (click here) about these results and the question that prompted them is that they perpetuate a dangerous stigmatization. The vast majority of mentally ill people are not violent. I wrote about this in my recent Mother Jones cover story on threat assessment, a growing strategy for stopping mass shooters that relies on collaboration between mental health and law enforcement experts:...
There are a lot of guns on the street of the USA. They are there because citizens purchased them. Start there. Who bought them and why?
Sandy Hook would not have been averted because of mental health checks. The murderer of small children received guns, including a Bush Master, from his mother's willingness to allow them in the house.
The mother, now deceased, was a straw purchaser. Her mentally ill son was allowed to practice gun shooting by his parent. Nothing the USA has as laws or background checks would have stopped those murders.
We also know that a police officer on a school campus does not prevent mass murderers. The murderers are smart enough to know they have to follow the police officer in the school to find an opportune time to carry out their crime. Having armed police officers does not guarantee the prevention of gun violence.
January 27, 2015
By The Chicago Defender
...There is a minimum (click here) of two Chicago police officers assigned to each high school.
And like Shields, who spent 23 years with CPD, Ron Huberman, chief executive officer for CPS, is also a former Chicago cop.
But CPS does not rely solely on police assistance when it comes to security for its 408,000 students, said Shields. It relies more on the 2,000 security guards on CPS payroll – with a starting salary of $26,000 – and the 6,200 cameras installed throughout the school district. There are an average of seven security guards at each high school.
And while the bulk of its security budget is spent on personnel costs, Shields, who earns $150,000 a year, said long term plans include using more cameras.
“Video surveillance is a lot more useful because security guards can only be in one place at a time. Cameras are helping us immensely. Plus, cameras can capture activity in the community, which is where most school incidents occur,” he said.
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. awarded CPS a $2.5 million grant, which will be used to purchase more cameras.
“J.P. Morgan is the first major corporation to step for security at CPS and we thank them,” Shields said. “We are also reaching out to other corporations for help.”
Huberman said its security efforts are paying off....
We also know from Columbine video cameras don't stop the murderers. Cameras are intelligence, not a defense. Video cameras are valuable after the fact. Video cameras have not been known to be a deterrent.
The only VALID measure to end gun violence in the USA and our schools is the removal of military style weapons from the gun shop's shelves. That is the truth and no matter how the USA dances around the issue it won't stop the murderers until the lethality of the American society is addressed.
