We seem to be in an endless loop. Gun-related shootings in the U.S. are astoundingly commonplace, whether premeditated or in the heat of the moment. This past Fourth of July weekend there were more than 100 shootings in Chicago alone.
Our typical reaction is disgust, horror and profound sadness. We blame the shooter and wonder how the signs were missed. We do not, however, embrace the reality that many could have been prevented if we appreciated the science that points to their most common causes.
Everybody is an expert — the public, the media, elected officials, and presidential candidates — none of whom are knowledgeable about the conditions that lead to gun violence. Instead, we listen to the steady drumbeat of politicians and uninformed narrators who often cite mental illness as the culprit. Sometimes it is. Most times, it isn’t.
Extensive, decades-long investigations of these cases demonstrate two facts.
First, mental health disorders are remarkably pervasive in the general public. Nearly 20% of the US population is estimated to have a mental illness. Many don’t think about depression and anxiety in that way, even when they reach a predefined diagnostic threshold. But that doesn’t make these disorders any less of an illness. Altogether, one-fifth of those we know and love — many of us — have suffered from one or more mental health disorders in our lifetimes. So let’s start by acknowledging that people with mental illness are not two-headed dragons.
Second, very few of those experiencing these problems commit gun crimes: only about 3% to 5% of all gun-related homicides are perpetrated by individuals with mental illness. The overwhelming majority have behavioral health problems — not synonymous with mental illness, such as aggression, impulsivity and poor regulation of emotion, that typically develop in childhood and worsen in adulthood in the absence of intervention.
Most often, childhood experiences of maltreatment, trauma, poverty and other adversities are root causes of the “hair-trigger” tendencies that result. Irrespective of the known triggers or causes, when behavior is repellent, we seem to feel assured by the assumption that the problem is mental illness because it could not possibly touch our lives. Clearly, that is not the case.
Look up ‘argument turns deadly’
For the most part, gun violence in America is an epidemic of small slights that turn into gunfire. Google “argument turns deadly” in your hometown and you will find bar fights that turn into murder, dice games that become shootings, family gatherings where a disagreement breaks out, even dueling political canvassers.
Sadly, these are the common instigators of deadly confrontations in America — arguments between two or more people who know each other that escalate into gun fights. These homicides are much more common than the boogeymen politicians rail against — strangers killing in a robbery or a carjacking. Yes, removing guns from the hands of the short-tempered would help keep fist fights, fist fights. But teaching young people how not to lose their temper in a way that escalates into homicide would prevent even more.
Also helpful in determining an effective societal response is recognizing that over 70% of gun violence in any given state is predicted by the number of gun owners and liberal gun laws.
Despite these consistent findings, misperceptions and misleading aspersions about the role of mental illness in gun violence divert our attention from actual causal agents and put a bullseye on the backs of people who are afflicted.
As a society, we want to understand the motivations behind gun violence so they may be addressed. But when a mentally ill person commits mass violence, the motive may be elusive or reflective of a distorted perception of reality, which does not satisfy our need to know.
If, instead, we were to acknowledge that, in the majority of cases, the underlying impetus for the crime is most often rage, hate and access to guns, the answers would become clearer. Numerous biological, social and contextual conditions contribute to violence, including trauma, certain personality traits and behavioral proclivities, feeling disempowered, unfavorable life circumstances, preoccupation with graphic violence and prejudice.
Tackling these true sources of violence is our best defense against the devastation we are currently experiencing. The facts should guide our policies rather than misplaced reactionary responses to already entrenched problems. Implementing well-tested prevention programs and policies in our communities, schools and health care settings have been reliably shown to effectively reduce gun violence by addressing the root causes. Only then will our communities become safer places to live.
Diana H. Fishbein, Ph.D., is a senior scientist and program director in the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. She is also founder and president of the National Prevention Science Coalition to Improve Lives.
Alex J. Rohrer, Ph.D., is an adjunct instructor in behavioral sciences at Wilmington University and a member of the National Prevention Science Coalition to Improve Lives.
Madeline Jupina is a doctoral student at Penn State University.
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