Taking Aim at Gun Control Issues—Study Shows Mixed Attitudes Toward Mental Illness
Taking Aim at Gun Control Issues—Study Shows Mixed Attitudes Toward Mental Illness
Gun owners and non-gun-owners alike support gun control policies that account for mental illness, according to a study published in a recent issue of NEJM.1
Researchers conducted two national public opinion surveys focusing on gun-policy (n = 2,703) and mental illness (n = 1,530) in January 2013. About one-third (33%) of respondents reported having a gun in their home or garage. Overall, the majority of the respondents supported enhanced background checks, instituting greater oversight of gun dealers, and banning military-style semiautomatic weapons and large-capacity ammunition magazines, although there were some differences between gun owners and non-gun-owners.
Generally, respondents favored increased support for those with mental illness, from parity in insurance coverage to increased government spending on mental health care. However, almost half of the participants thought that people with serious mental illness are more dangerous than the general population and most noted they were unwilling to have a co-worker or neighbor with serious mental illness. In addition, the majority of respondents (85%) supported the idea of prohibiting gun ownership for people who have either been involuntarily committed to a hospital for psychiatric treatment or been declared mentally incompetent by a court.
The findings were not all negative, though. About half (58%) of the respondents said discrimination against people with psychiatric disorders was a problem, and 56% noted that patients with mental illness could return to a productive life with treatment.
“Gun policies with the highest support included those related to persons with mental illness,” the authors concluded. “Given the data on public attitudes about persons with mental illness, it is worth thinking carefully about how to implement effective gun-violence–prevention measures without exacerbating stigma or discouraging people from seeking treatment.”
Reference
1. Barry CL, McGinty EE, Vernick JS, Webster DW. After Newtown—public opinion on gun policy and mental Illness. N Engl J Med. 2013 Jan 28 [Epub].
I'm not sure that mental health screening is going to make any difference. The rogue cop-killer in LA was likely psychologically screened as fit for duty prior to his joining the force, and the Aurora killer was identified as mentally ill and dangerous, yet nothing was done. In the end this is just going to be another burden for the clinician where we are asked to do something for the state as unpaid deputies that we are not good at, namely predicting violence.
By the way, a common pistol such as the Glock 9mm is a semiautomatic "military-style"weapon. Large arms in the military other than sniper rifles are generally fully automatic. Almost all domestic weapons in the US are semiautomatic or repeaters, including old-style revolvers. But kudos to the author for avoiding the term "assault weapon" which is meaningless.