Statement of APA CEO on Gun Violence and Mental Health

Blaming mental illness for gun violence is simplistic, inaccurate — and prevents us from solving the problem

WASHINGTON — Following is the statement of Arthur C. Evans Jr., PhD, CEO of the American Psychological Association, in reaction to President Trump’s statements today regarding gun violence and mental illness:

“Blaming mental illness for the gun violence in our country is simplistic and inaccurate and goes against the scientific evidence currently available.

“The United States is a global outlier when it comes to horrific headlines like the ones that consumed us all weekend. Although the United States makes up less than 5% of the world’s population, we are home to 31% of all mass shooters globally, according to a CNN analysis. This difference is not explained by the rate of mental illness in the U.S.

“The one stark difference? Access to guns.

“Americans own nearly half of the estimated 650 million civilian-owned guns in the world. Access to this final, fatal tool means more deaths that occur more quickly, whether in a mass shooting or in someone’s own home.

“As we psychological scientists have said repeatedly, the overwhelming majority of people with mental illness are not violent. And there is no single personality profile that can reliably predict who will resort to gun violence. Based on the research, we know only that a history of violence is the single best predictor of who will commit future violence. And access to more guns, and deadlier guns, means more lives lost.

“Based on the psychological science, we know some of the steps we need to take. We need to limit civilians’ access to assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. We need to institute universal background checks. And we should institute red flag laws that remove guns from people who are at high risk of committing violent acts.

“And although the president called on the nation to do a ‘better job of identifying and acting on early warning signs,’ that requires research to ensure we are making decisions based on data, not prejudices and fear.

“We agree with the president’s call to strengthen background checks. But this falls woefully short of what is needed. We must take a comprehensive public health approach and provide dedicated federal funding to agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health, to better understand the causes, contributing factors and solutions to gun violence.

“The president clearly said that it is time to stop the hateful rhetoric that is infecting the public discourse. We ask that he use his powerful position to model that behavior.  And we ask that the federal government support the research needed to better understand the causes of bigotry and hate, and their association to violence, so that we may devise evidence-based solutions.”

https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2019/08/gun-violence-mental-health

Good luck with that, Arthur.

“The United States is a global outlier when it comes to horrific headlines like the ones that consumed us all weekend. Although the United States makes up less than 5% of the world’s population, we are home to 31% of all mass shooters globally, according to a CNN analysis. This difference is not explained by the rate of mental illness in the U.S.

I wonder if real shit hole nations are included were you have civil wars, terrorism, despot governments, etc (I assume yes it mention globally)

If so then yeah USA its even worse than we think

They are pretty good at producing serial killers as well.

Even if mental illness is the major contributor doesn’t that say something about them anyway

Cymek said:

I wonder if real shit hole nations are included were you have civil wars, terrorism, despot governments, etc (I assume yes it mention globally)

If so then yeah USA its even worse than we think

They are pretty good at producing serial killers as well.

Even if mental illness is the major contributor doesn’t that say something about them anyway

They probably don’t fit the criteria for “mass shooting” but fall into some other category. I would assume (yes I know) that this means mass shootings in a society not in conflict or civil war.

> The United States is a global outlier when it comes to horrific headlines

Never a truer thing said. Just kidding.
It depends on your definition of “horror”.

To me, the headline “An estimated 500,000 to 1,000,000 people were killed in mass shootings in Rwanda” is a horror headline.

mollwollfumble said:

> The United States is a global outlier when it comes to horrific headlines

Never a truer thing said. Just kidding.
It depends on your definition of “horror”.

To me, the headline “An estimated 500,000 to 1,000,000 people were killed in mass shootings in Rwanda” is a horror headline.

Machete surely, not shooting.

I take it you’re not buying the “violent video games” thing?

Ogmog said:

I take it you’re not buying the “violent video games” thing?

Gamers number in the millions and that’s probably just in the USA alone so I imagine you will get some killers who play them.
I bet you could find a bible in their house as well but better not use that example.

Cymek said:

Ogmog said:

I take it you’re not buying the “violent video games” thing?

Gamers number in the millions and that’s probably just in the USA alone so I imagine you will get some killers who play them.
I bet you could find a bible in their house as well but better not use that example.

My friends & I used to play Duke Nukem a lot & afaik none of us has become a mass murderer.

Tamb said:

Cymek said:

Ogmog said:

I take it you’re not buying the “violent video games” thing?

Gamers number in the millions and that’s probably just in the USA alone so I imagine you will get some killers who play them.
I bet you could find a bible in their house as well but better not use that example.

My friends & I used to play Duke Nukem a lot & afaik none of us has become a mass murderer.

There are violent games and there are violent games. Those predisposed to violent acts might be drawn to the more extreme violent games but I wouldn’t think that these games would cause someone who isn’t predisposed to suddenly become that way…

I recall the columbine murderers played some violent video games, but then, what western kid doesn’t.

furious said:

Tamb said:

Cymek said:

Gamers number in the millions and that’s probably just in the USA alone so I imagine you will get some killers who play them.
I bet you could find a bible in their house as well but better not use that example.

My friends & I used to play Duke Nukem a lot & afaik none of us has become a mass murderer.

There are violent games and there are violent games. Those predisposed to violent acts might be drawn to the more extreme violent games but I wouldn’t think that these games would cause someone who isn’t predisposed to suddenly become that way…

No

> Gun Violence and Mental Health

I take it gun violence is a subcategory of violence, and mental health is subcategory of health

take the two larger categories and you’ve got violence, and health.

it’d be odd if that sort of got lost when you paste all the words together and rattle off Gun Violence and Mental Health

what’d be even weirder, is if gun violence became so closely associated with mental health that when someone had a cognitive contraction and tried to think health they conjured gun, instead of.

or further, some half-a-personality, marginal faculties abandoned them, the fall-back associations amount to shoot people.

be a star, infamous, get some airtime, it’s more valuable than oxygen