School Shootings, Guns and Mental Health

As a parent, member of our local school board since 2011, and working in the field of behavioral health in our community, I am always saddened when I hear of yet another school shooting in our country. Saddened because no parent should ever say goodbye to their child at the local school bus stop, or at the door to the school, and never see that child alive again. It is a parent's worst fear. I am saddened that Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School will now enter the lexicon along with Sandy Hook and Columbine as a marker of our times.

I am heartened by stories of courage, of teachers who shield students without regard for their own personal safety but know that much hard work is ahead for the teachers and staff in Parkland, Florida, as they and their students grieve the loss of their classmates.

Superintendent Gass wrote recently, "Schools are a safe place to learn and grow with caring people…we strive to be secure and control entrances and balance that with a small town friendly welcoming attitude." I echo that sentiment and recognize that we give our children an incredible gift each day when they attend our public schools.

I am saddened by the response of our elected leaders in Washington who refuse to take action around gun regulation, despite polls showing a majority of Americans, even gun owners, favoring some sensible changes to our gun laws. Nicholas Kristof wrote a recent article in the New York Times that we have models of regulation that do not involve an outright ban and are modeled on how we regulate access to cars (which also kill about as many people each year), "We don't ban cars, but we work hard to regulate them-and limit access to them-so as to reduce the death toll they cause. This has been spectacularly successful, reducing the death rate per 100 million miles driven by 95% since 1921."

Kristof goes on to suggest that if the conversation is about "gun safety" rather than "gun control," fewer objections arise. In fact, 87% of Americans support background checks for private sales and at gun shows. Among households who own guns, the polls are equally compelling showing that 77% of gun owners support background checks for private sales and at gun shows. Where is the disconnect between what a majority of Americans want and action by our elected leaders?

I am also saddened because sometimes the perpetrator in these shootings is an individual who has struggled with mental illness. They are invariably described by first responders and others as "crazy," "deranged," "troubled," or "sick." The reality, these incidents notwithstanding, is that individuals who suffer from mental illness are far more likely to be victims of violence than perpetrators of violence. In fact, experts suggest that only about 4% of violence in the United States is attributable to people diagnosed with a mental illness.

Certainly, gun ownership rates contribute to the number of gun murders each year and in the United States both measures far exceed that of other modern democracies. There are 88.8 guns per 100 individuals in the U.S., compared to 30.8 per 100 in Canada. There are three gun murders per 100,000 individuals in the U.S. compared to 0.5 in Canada-a six-fold difference.

Gun ownership rates also partially account for the fact that in 2016 over 22,000 individuals died by suicide using a gun. In Colorado, 49.1% of the 1,066 completed suicides that year involved a gun. Yet stigma associated with suicide sometimes prevents us from addressing the issues in our community and culture that contribute to an epidemic of deaths due to suicide.

Despite the fact that we experience a large number of American deaths and injuries due to guns, we have little evidence of the root causes, and very little is spent to research the topic in depth, according to Kristof. The lack of research clearly hampers our ability to address the issue with sensible policy reforms and interventions that would lower the rate of death and injury due to guns.

What can you do? Hug your kids. If you own guns, lock them up. Invest in trigger locks and gun safes. Take a Mental Health First Aid class to help your family, friends and community members who may be dealing with a mental health issue. Lobby your elected officials for sensible gun safety laws that are supported by a majority of Americans.