Mental Health and Gun Control

T

here are so many reasons that I love my generation. We are much more than the phone-addicted, spoiled brats that we are portrayed as in the media. We are by far the most outspoken and accepting group of young people that the United States has seen to date. It seems like every time I turn on the news, I see a teenager fighting for what they believe in. But my generation is facing an issue that I don’t know if we are equipped to deal with: the role that mental health plays in school shootings. I am a staunch advocate for the increase of awareness surrounding mental health issues, and I believe that mental health care needs to play a larger role when discussing, and addressing, problems certain students have at school. However, I firmly believe that mental health should be left out of the conversation surrounding school shootings, because labeling someone as crazy in the head doesn’t do anything to solve the problem and it creates dangerous stereotypes about people suffering from mental illness.

You often hear the phrase, “guns don’t kill people, people kill people,” from those who are in support of organizations like the NRA. And while this statement seems like a simple defense of firearms, there are more layers to it that may not seem obvious at first glance. No person who says that “people kill people” is actually wrong. What they are saying is a factually correct statement. People do kill people. But putting an emphasis on this obvious truth is a mistake that has terrible repercussions.

"But my generation is facing an issue that I don’t know if we are equipped to deal with: the role that mental health plays in school shootings."

By creating an environment that only focuses on the individuals who do these mass shootings, we are allowing ourselves to continually psychoanalyze the people who commit these heinous crimes. Sometimes all we want to do is to try to understand by asking ourselves why anyone would ever want to do such a thing like murder innocent school children. However, we must try and avoid following this train of thought. I know it sounds crazy to ask yourself to not ask yourself these questions, but trust me, there is a reason.

It is obvious that anyone who shoots up a school is mentally ill. If anyone can bring themselves to get a gun, run into a school and open fire on innocent children, there is clearly something wrong with them that goes further than having a bad day. Still, focusing on the mental health of the perpetrator only worsens the already bad ideas our society has about people with mental illness.

"Guns are the problem, not people. "

I am scared that too many people will move from saying “people who shoot up schools are mentally ill” to “mentally ill people shoot up schools” because while the first statement may be true in most cases, the converse is a ludicrous, sweeping generalization of a statement that shouldn’t be taken seriously. But in a world where we hate others based on skin color, religion, and gender, I simply can’t trust that we will resist forming ridiculous conclusions about people suffering from mental illness. So, while I am all for discussing mental health, I believe that making it the main topic of conversations about school shootings is a recipe for hatred.

Mental health is not the main issue. We do need to address mental health on all fronts, especially in the United States. But using mental illness as an excuse for the deaths of innocent children is nothing short of disgusting. What kind of a person can’t sacrifice the right to bear arms when it infringes upon the most important natural right—the right to life? Guns are the problem, not people. We won’t be able to save everyone struggling with a mental illness, but we can ensure that they cannot legally access a firearm that could be used to kill.