The decay of mental health in the United States has been ignored for quite some time. The National Institute of Mental Health notes that approximately 10 million people in the United States suffer from mental health problems, with around half of these individuals not receiving the necessary treatment they deserve.
(For more on this, check out their website http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/index.shtml .)
The Side Effects of Neglecting Mental Health in the United States
We believe that the individuals not treated are more susceptible to committing mass murders like those at Virginia Tech and Sandy Hook. These types of mass murders committed cannot be explained in any other way besides a core mental health problem that had been ignored. Any rational individual would not have a valid reason to shoot innocent elementary school kids or terrorize college students. In these instances, the families of the perpetrators saw signs of mental health issues and could have jumped in before their problem escalated into gun violence.
How We Can Help
It is our job to address these problems before they become too serious. In addition, another issue in these instances were the extent of the weapons used. The weapons used were designed to cause destruction rather than defend, with large capacity magazines and war-like capabilities. Such weapons are unnecessary for citizens to use for protection, and should not be sold to the public for defensive purposes.
What about Crime?
The combination of deeply rooted mental health problems with a weapon designed to kill multiple individuals has made this issue more noticeable for the public to see. Aside from the mental health issue, criminal oriented individuals have also used firearms in an irresponsible way to commit their crimes. The problem of crime stems from societal issues such as lack of education and poverty. By fighting against poverty and further educating individuals in areas of high crime, the problem of gun violence is surely to lower.
Is the Use of Firearms the Problem?
It is evident that the real issue is the mentality of the criminal rather than the weapons used. Although it is understandable to believe that more accessibility of firearms grants more opportunity for these criminals to commit their deeds, criminals will still find an alternative method to killing. This can be reavealed by a study conducted by Harvard University, which compares the murder rates where handguns are banned such as Russia to where firearms are accessible such as Finland. The study found that the areas where handguns were banned had higher murder rates than the areas where handguns are accessible.
(You can find this information on page 664, http://www.law.harvard.edu/students/orgs/jlpp/Vol30_No2_KatesMauseronline.pdf .)
This suggests that the source of the problem may lie further than just the weapons used to commit acts of violence. As a nation, we must make sure to address the societal problems that push individuals to resort to crime and random acts of violence.