Langman Gun Violence

Overview of Mental Health vs. Guns In Nick Anderson´s visual argument, a man is drawn along with a gun store and a tall stairway leading to a psychiatrist. The message the artist is trying to get through across is that getting access to a gun is easier than getting access to mental health. Not only is the gun store less complicated to get into, but it also seems more welcoming.

There was also an incident in California were a shooter by the named of Elliot Rodger took medications for his Asperger’s disorder. This article assessed four assumptions that are associated with the aftermath of mass shootings. They are, mental illness causes gun violence, psychiatric diagnosis can predict gun crime before it happens, U.S. mass shootings teach us to fear the loners who are mentally ill, and because of these complex psychiatric histories of these shootings, gun control won’t prevent another

There have been many mass shootings over the past couple of years and they seem to be getting worse. There have been different time periods where there have been mass shootings. Schools have been shot up by the students that go there. Many people believe that if we can just arm ourselves against a shooter we will be safe. There are laws that have been passed in states to control what a person can and cannot have if they have a mental illness.

Mental health care and gun violence meet at a very bumpy crossroad. According to Paul Ryan, Speaker of the House, “What we have seen – and a common theme among many of these mass shootings – is a theme of mental illness” (Flores). Adam Lanza, Seung Hui Cho, James Holmes, Elliot Rodgers, Aaron Alexis, and Dylann Roof: what do these six men have in common? They are all mass shooters that were diagnosed as mentally ill. All six of these men have failed to detect their illness and properly treat it.

Many people believe that the main cause of mass shootings are the people who are doing it have a mental health problem, and sometimes they might even be right, but not everyone who has been involved in a mass shooting has had mental health problems. “...data shows that, at most, only around 5 percent of crimes in the U.S. are performed by people with mental illness and that the percentage is the same for violent crimes (link is external)—which means that 95 percent of violent crimes are committed by non-mentally ill individuals” (Psychology Today). There are cases that support that some people have had severe mental health issues, such as schizophrenia. Yet, there are also cases that prove there is very little evidence linking mental health and mass shootings together. There are very few mental illnesses that would make a person want to go and commit such a murder.

With irresponsible gun owners and weak gun restrictions, the likelihood of an undiagnosed psychopath to purchase an automatic rifle and unload it on a public audience skyrockets. My proof of gun control’s effectiveness lies in the Pacific Ocean: Australia. Ever since their first major shooting, they refused to sell any more guns and offered a buyback to each citizen; ever since this law was put into place in 1996 after the Port Arthur incident, their collective death toll from massacres never reached anywhere close to our annual amount. Those who believe a black market will still dominate need to consider the real issue at stake here: the government is legally distributing them with a rather simple set of tasks to

It seems American media has tried to justify many mass shootings, to mental health. It is in the way our society ties these connections that it shows not only our politics, biases, and blind spots but also what it does for those troubled individuals, that acts alone (Metzl, "Mental Illness, Mass Shootings, and the Politics of American Firearms"). It is hard to turn on a news and not hear about the topic of guns, with multiple mass shooting and the push for gun control, mental health is frivolously thrown around for political gain. When people associate extreme violence with mental health and read about murder trials defendants "not guilty by reason of insanity” it is understandable people do not want to be associated with this image. It

Whether mentally ill or not, there will still be persons who obtain guns illegally. In many countries with the advancement of technology and the need for the use of the internet on a rise, many persons use and have access to the Dark Web which is used to obtain items which are deemed to be illegal. When we look at Seung-Hui Cho a Korean who committed a mass killing in Virginia, he would have had a more difficult time getting possession of guns he used to on innocent students and teachers at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg. However, the crime still would have been committed as he was a deranged criminal who found a way to get his hands on a gun. We are unable to tell whether Seung-Hui Cho's act of the mass killings could have been stopped but what we do know is that strict gun control laws do not always have the effect that lawmakers want to see.

Tragedies have led to the modification of gun laws and the reexamination of the treatment of those who suffer from mental illness” (Cooper 5). “In the 2000s, the issue of gun control still reflected regional concerns. Where hunting is a part of life and leisure, as it is in the South and Northeast and in rural areas, guns are cherished. In contrast, the Northeast and urban settings tend to favor gun control… Democrats are viewed more often as pro-gun control, and Republicans are seen as pro gun” (Pizzo 1).

However, a new question rises- should the mentally ill and emotionally disturbed be allowed to have guns? Or should teachers be armed? The emotionally and mentally ill are incapable to be trusted with a weapon that can be capable of taking the life of another, and teachers should not be armed because they lack the judgement to shoot a student and training. As the topic of gun control surfaces the news and media, the gun

Regulating guns will not stop all of the killings that are occurring in America, and there are better ways to cease the killings than regulating guns. Body Paragraph One: Topic Sentence: Regulating mental health will be more effective in ceasing killings with guns than regulating guns. In an analysis provided, 22 percent of the perpetrators of 235 mass killing, could be considered mentally ill, many of which were carried out with firearms (Qui). Almost 25% of mass shooting killers are being considered mentally ill

Sometimes people that are mentally ill do not realize they are unstable and do things they wouldn’t normally do if they were in a right frame of mind. This is where I will use a pathos approach and try to make them understand by making this an emotional argument. Showing current issues with weapons and the needless deaths, such as the reporter and her camera man, killed just recently. This could appeal to the reader’s emotional response to the

On October 1st, 2015 President Barack Obama released a speech regarding the devastating mass shooting at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon. President Obama’s main argument, in his speech, was that we as a nation have put so much money to prevent other disasters but have, for the most part, ignored the idea of proceeding with gun control laws to prevent situations like mass shootings. The President mentions how “it's fair to say that anybody who does this has a sickness in their minds, regardless of what they think their motivations may be. But we are not the only country on Earth that has people with mental illnesses or want to do harm to other people.

Many different views are taken when it comes to gun control and mass shootings. Some believe that the only cause is the guns themselves. Others believe that it is gun control laws, yet "by a more than 2-to-1 margin, more people say mass shootings reflect problems identifying and treating people with mental health problems rather than inadequate gun control laws (63 percent to 23 percent)" (Craighill and Clement 2). Regardless, many people

The use of and the owning of guns is a very hot and debated topic in society today. For many, this is a life and death debate due to the recent and numerous school shootings. These school shootings have caused an outcry for more gun control, specifically in relation to the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. Despite these calls, increased gun control is not the answer. Most gun owners’ use their guns responsibly and for good purposes.