Rabbitt 1

Michael Rabbitt

English 1302

Professor Moore

12 April 2017

The Time Has Come For Change

In the past decade, this country has seen the absolute terror mass shootings can cause. It

is vital that the government steps up to stop this issue before any more civilians are hurt.

Research shows that these mass shooting rates have drastically increased since 2008. Further

data also shows that most of these shooting were caused by people who were later diagnosed as

mentally ill. In order to stop these events from occurring, there needs to be drastic research and

money put into mental research facilities so that these people can get the help they need in order

to save their own lives, and the lives of many others who they could harm. The federal

government needs to make more money available to research into the mentally ill and how to

identify them before it is too late, in doing this it will further prevent mass shootings, save many

American lives, and will halt the ability for these persons to easily obtain weapons, while also
 Rabbitt 2

getting the mentally ill help in which they need so that they are not wrongfully placed in prisons.
 Rabbitt 3

In many of these mass shootings, the suspects involved were further determined to be

mentally ill. The question most people wonder is, how did these mentally ill people obtain these

weapons to commit such terror? One example is how Adam Lanza killed more than twenty kids

as well as six adults at sandy hook elementary. After the public and the media reacted the way

they did, the United States found out that Lanza was not just an average everyday person. He

was an undiagnosed Schizophrenic. After the news came out about his disease, people and

associations from both sides of the political aisle came out and endorsed an idea that a national

registration be administered for people that are diagnosed as mentally ill be required by federal
 Rabbitt 4

law. Both the New York governor and the NRA president both supported the idea. This law has

already passed legislations in many states but if it ever passes in the United States congress, then

once these mentally ill individuals are identified, they will have all of their firearms confiscated.

Many lawmakers are already suggesting that the states and federal government get more

involved into making a national registry to where all mentally ill information be required by the

government to be submitted into a nationwide registration. However many states will get out of

doing this task by saying that the term mentally ill can mean a wide variety. As the Coalition To

Stop Gun Violence says Under a federal law enacted in 1968, an individual is prohibited from

buying or possessing firearms for life if he/she has been adjudicated as a mental defective or

committed to a mental institution. A person is adjudicated as a mental defective if a court

or other entity having legal authority to make adjudicationshas made a determination that an

individual, as a result of mental illness: 1) Is a danger to himself or to others; 2) Lacks the mental

capacity to contract or manage his own affairs(Guns). The dismal truth behind this logically

bizarre question is that the national background database is not complete. It is missing four

hundred thousand cases of known mentally ill records of the mental health records that are kept

by the states. This system is the National Instant Criminal Background Check System or NICS

for short. The NICS system includes four federal databases. Two of these the Interstate

Identification Index and the NICS Index contain records that may identify a person as

disqualified from possessing firearms on the basis of mental health or developmental

disability(Mental Health). The reason that these states arent handing over critical mental

health data was shared by an Oklahoma official after a schizophrenic individual bought four guns

legally and committed murder with these weapons. He said When study researchers wanted to

find out why, they spoke with an unnamed Oklahoma official who said there were no state
 Rabbitt 5

privacy laws or logistical hurdles blocking record submission in Oklahoma, as there are in other

states. Rather, a lack of political will appear to be the only barrier to submission, according to the

unnamed official cited in the study (Christensen). The way the government can help prevent this

from occurring would be to make submitting all mental health records a mandate by each state

with defiance punishable by a huge fine or a halt or withdrawal of federal funds. Letting

diagnosed mentally ill individuals buy guns is hazardous and absurd regarding the safety of

others , and due to the lack of accessible data, there is a real threat concerning to many

Americans that these persons can purchase firearms and commit heinous crimes. In letting the

states have the option to relinquish restrictions in selectively releasing their mental health records

is a national risk to our society. With no laws pertaining to this, there is no time in the

foreseeable future to where we will be safe from the mentally ill due to their easy accessibility to

obtaining weapons, unless this country unites to put an end to this broken database.

Another huge issue with the mentally ill relating to their potential violence, is to how they

arent diagnosed, therefore not getting the help that themselves and society deserve. Most of

these mass terror incidents couldve been prevented if the suspects would have been diagnosed at

an early age and admitted to a mental health ward. In fact according to a recent study in the last 6

recorded mass shootings, all of the individuals showed signs of clinical depression, anxiety, and

many other mental health disorders. Also a person that is diagnosed as mentally ill is three or

four times more likely to commit these horrendous acts then other people according to Lois

Beckett. The cause of these mentally ill persons roaming the streets freely is due to a lack of

further research into the mentally ill. The only way this will be improved anytime soon is if the

government puts more effort and funding into research and mental health wards. An increase in

funding would allow the mental institutions more availability to and research centers more
 Rabbitt 6

opportunity to find the mentally ill persons and help them before they get incarcerated, or worse,

they commit a horrible crime that will deeply cripple society. Since 2009, when the great

recession hit, states cut their funding to the cause of mental health patients and mental health

research as much as up to $1.8 billion dollars per year. As a result, there has been a steady

decline in how many identified mentally ill patients are being admitted to mental health wards.

Also as most would assume, due to this decline in mental health wards and their attendance, the

prison and jails population has skyrocketed and not for good reason. The majority of these

increases in attendance are due to the mentally ill being locked up. In fact according to a recent

poll in Texass juvenile jails, there are currently more mentally ill juveniles in the prison system

then gang members. This recession also reduced the number of beds available in mental health

wards. In doing this the mental health centers cannot hold as many patients. A study also shows

that when mentally ill individuals dont seek the help and treatment they need, they often resort

to violence and crime which ultimately places them in jails. The mentally ill, having an

undiagnosed legitimate problem, are not excused from the choices made in regards to threatening

the life of many people. However the punishment of imprisonment is improperly caring for them,

resulting in a pointless punishment. Prison is a facility utilized to better those who compose of

devious acts with the intent and ability to be able to comprehend right from wrong; taking into

consideration the mental ability of the mentally ill, one may find the punishment for these

individuals unlawful and cruel in terms of humanity. By placing the mentally disabled

individuals in a mental health care center, they are being allowed with the same opportunity to

understand their problem, come to terms with it, and control the effects created by this illness.

Placing them in a prison only causes more violence due to the stress and confusion of their

punishment, which according to Medlineplus, There are many causes of mental disorders. Your
 Rabbitt 7

genes and family history may play a role. Your life experiences, such as stress or a history of

abuse, may also matter (Mental Disorders). Disregarding the medical side of the problem may

lead to a substantial decrease in the mental awareness and right mind of the already mentally

disabled because of the stress and experiences encountered while enduring life in prison instead

of receiving the proper treatment for the mentally ill. Prison is the treatment for criminals and

delinquents, as mental medical centers are the treatment for the mentally ill. Both facilities

ultimately provide the same things in relations to punishment, safety of the individual, and those

around them. Along with the intent to influence the individual to decipher from right and wrong

allowing them to come upon better decisions for themselves.

In todays society mass shootings have become a terror that everyone fears. Many of

these mass shootings have come from the hands of a mentally ill individual who have in one way

or another obtained a gun. The reason in them obtaining these guns is due to a very leaky NICS

system that needs to be revamped and regulated by the federal government. Another way these

individuals can obtain weapons legally is due to many of these people not ever being diagnosed,

therefore never being recorded in the NICS. This is due to a lack in mental health research. An

adequate solution that would solve these plethora of issues is an increase in federal funding by

the national government towards fixing the databases that we call the NICS and adding more

funds from the federal government towards research into the mentally ill and mental health

wards.

Works Cited
 Rabbitt 8

Beckett, Lois. Myth vs. Fact: Violence and Mental Health. ProPublica, 18 June 2015,
www.propublica.org/article/myth-vs-fact-violence-and-mental-health.
Christensen, Jen. How the Violent Mentally Ill Can Buy Guns. CNN, Cable News Network, 5
Feb. 2013
Guns & Mental Health. Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, csgv.org/issues/guns-and-mental-
health/.
Mental Disorders: MedlinePlus. MedlinePlus Trusted Health Information for You,
medlineplus.gov/mentaldisorders.html.
Mental Health Reporting. Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, smartgunlaws.org/gun-
laws/policy-areas/background-checks/mental-health-reporting/.
Metzl, Jonathan M., and Kenneth T. MacLeish. Mental Illness, Mass Shootings, and the Politics

of American Firearms. American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health

Association, Feb. 2015,

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4318286/%20%C2%A0%C2%A0.