2021 poll, 87% say persons w/ mental illnesses not buy guns

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https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/20 ... icy_00-02/



70% strongly favor banning persons with mental illness from buying a gun

+ 17% somewhat favor
——————————-
total of 87%

I’m not in favor of stereotyping mentally ill persons. Some, not all, but some persons with schizophrenia are a danger to others. As are some persons with bipolar. And I’ve read that there is real world overlap between schizophrenia and bipolar.

But all the same,

Persons with depression, anxiety disorders, OCD, eating disorders, etc, etc are not. In fact, such persons are probably somewhat less likely than a random member of the general public to be a danger to others.

PS The above survey was taken early April 2021. So, as of now, about 14 months ago.

So, which mental illnesses are disqualifiers?

As always, an important question is: what is the relationship between the polled public's perception of reality and actual reality?

A few references :

There is a complicated, fraught connection between gun violence and mental health: ‘We have to be very careful how we talk about the link between the two’
Last Updated: May 30, 2022 at 3:45 p.m. ET
First Published: May 24, 2022 at 9:34 p.m. ET
By Quentin Fottrell
America has a mental-health crisis and it also has a gun problem. But are the two related?
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-c ... 1653442468



Mental Illness Too Often Wrongly Associated With Gun Violence
Katie O'Connor
Published Online:15 Jun 2021https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.pn.2021.7.23
People with mental illness are more likely to be the victims of violence than perpetrators, but mass shootings are often incorrectly associated with psychiatric illnesses. Psychiatrists can help educate the public about evidence-based strategies that reduce gun violence.
https://psychnews.psychiatryonline.org/ ... .2021.7.23



Gun Violence: Prediction, Prevention, and Policy

Gun Violence and Crime

Summary: Conclusions and Recommendations

Gun violence is an urgent, complex, and multifaceted problem. It requires evidence-based, multifaceted solutions. Psychology can make important contributions to policies that prevent gun violence. Toward this end, in February 2013 the American Psychological Association commissioned this report by a panel of experts to convey research-based conclusions and recommendations (and to identify gaps in such knowledge) on how to reduce the incidence of gun violence — whether by homicide, suicide, or mass shootings — nationwide.

Following are chapter-by-chapter highlights and short summaries of conclusions and recommendations of the report’s authors. More information and supporting citations can be found within the chapters themselves.
https://www.apa.org/pubs/reports/gun-vi ... prevention



Gun violence and mental health

After instances of mass violence, especially widely covered school shootings, mental illness is often identified as—or assumed to be—a root cause. Social science research can help educators understand some simple truths and can challenge some common misconceptions.

Four assumptions regularly shape news media coverage in the aftermath of mass shootings:

1. Mental illness causes gun
violence.

2.A psychiatric diagnosis can
predict gun crime before it
happens.

3. Mass shootings are committed
by mentally ill loners.

4. Gun control won't prevent
another tragedy, because mass
shooters' psychiatric histories are
too complex

In fact, research shows that:

Mental illness does not cause gun violence: “Surprisingly little population-level evidence supports the notion that individuals diagnosed with mental illness are more likely than anyone else to commit gun crimes” (Metzl and MacLeish 2015).

People with diagnosed with mental illnesses are not more likely to commit mass shootings; less than 5 percent of violence can be attributed to mental illness.

In fact, people with mental illness of varying severity—

https://www.aft.org/childrens-health/me ... tal-health

As always, the public can support an abstract reform,

but as we start to dive into the details, that support can fall away.

Cool. So... Is there going to be free mental health evaluation before purchase? If so, does that mean you could get a free psychiatric diagnosis, and all you have to do is try to buy a gun?

Or is the mental health check going to cost you?

If there's no mental health check required... Who cares? All you have to do is never speak to a therapist.

Thank you for this and the other good references.

And I think people have patience for three improvements: 1, 2, and 3. And any kind of solid, genuine leader (whether at the local, state, or national level) really needs to put it in the form of an executive summary and please put it in plain English.

And maybe the leader even writes it with the assumption that their reader is actually slightly smarter than they are, but just doesn’t know this particular field (even though this assumption won’t always be true!)

I say this because once people sniff out that a leader is talking down to them, well, that’s just poison.

Last edited by AardvarkGoodSwimmer on 05 Jun 2022, 5:25 pm, edited 2 times in total.

or going further, wtf is mental 'illness'

Violent history( assault , domestic violence etc..) coupled with a psychopath or Dark Triad diagnosis ,self-harm ,suicidal tendencies or threats, and disorders with paranoia would be disqualifying IMO.
The majority of people with mental illness are more likely to be a victim of violent crime than a perpetrator.

In my book, celebrity worship or other intense or obsessive interest in celebrities is at least a sign that some kind of mental illness exists if it is not in and of itself a mental illness.

________________________________________________________________________

exactly. yes.

not everyone goes to counseling. if people with mental illness diagnoses are not legally allowed to purchase guns, then that would discourage people that want to get guns, from going to counseling.

sometimes counselors fail to give the correct diagnosis.

sometimes counselors give the wrong diagnosis.

sometimes counseling $$$$.

not everyone has the time, cash, and energy to go to counseling.

This is where I say a diagnosis can be helpful in terms of understanding and future strategy with the potential of real benefit,

but it’s not etched in stone.

I think a lot of people approach gun control with an attitude of “something must be done”. It feels better to do useless things that feel like they address the issue rather than saying “the issue is predominantly going to be resolved by gradually reducing poverty, improving education, and supporting vulnerable children”.

And it helps that the doing of those useless things can be pushed off on the politicians, 'them', while the public 'you' goes on following sports and celebrities.

The big problem with gradually reducing poverty, improving education, and supporting vulnerable children is that to be successful and meaningful those have to be done in the community by the community; which means done by 'you' via applying your time and effort and maybe even some sacrifice.

The question is:. Is it an essential job skill to not have a mental illness, in order to be a gun owner, or "discrimination"?