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Key TakeawaysAfter mass shootings, people often suggest links between gun violence and mental illness.While there might be a link between mental illness and a slightly increased risk of violence, the risk is minute.Linking gun violence and mental illness can add to the stigma around mental illness, making it more difficult for people to reach out for help.

Key Takeaways

After mass shootings, people often suggest links between gun violence and mental illness.While there might be a link between mental illness and a slightly increased risk of violence, the risk is minute.Linking gun violence and mental illness can add to the stigma around mental illness, making it more difficult for people to reach out for help.

Whenever there’s a high-profile mass shooting, we’ll often see politicians, people in the media, and people in our own lives making links between gun violence and mental illness.

This was the case earlier this month when a shooter killed ten people at a supermarket in Buffalo. And again, ten days later, after the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, in which a shooter killed 19 students and two teachers.

Eighteen-year-old Payton S. Gendron, accused of carrying out the Buffalo shooting, had been referred to a hospital for a mental health evaluation and counseling after telling a teacher that he “wanted to murder and commit suicide” in 2021. However, they released him after only a day and a half.

This information has once again ignited the conversation surrounding gun violence and mental illnesses likedepression. As a result, there are a lot of misconceptions and falsehoods being spread.

It might be tempting to blame gun violence on mental illness. It’s a convenient scapegoat at a time when gun violence and mass shootings are real concerns.

What Do the Statistics Suggest?

According to theGun Violence Archive, there have been over 200 mass shootings in the US in 2022, though not all of these involved fatalities, while in 2020 over 45,000 people died from gun-related injuries, with over half of these being suicides.

Most people with a mental illness aren’t violent. There is evidence to suggest associations between mental illness and an increased risk of violence—it’s often asserted that mental health checksshould be requiredbefore someone can buy a gun—but the vast majority of people with a mental illness are not violent.

Mark Vahrmeyer, AdvDipIntPsy MADue to how mental illness has and continues to be viewed and stigmatized, people with mental health problems, or mental illness, can feel shame about their condition making it difficult for them to access help.

Mark Vahrmeyer, AdvDipIntPsy MA

Due to how mental illness has and continues to be viewed and stigmatized, people with mental health problems, or mental illness, can feel shame about their condition making it difficult for them to access help.

Misconceptions may arise because of high-profile cases in which the perpetrator shoots others before then turning the gun on themselves, such as the Columbine High School massacre, the Virginia Tech shooting, and the 2017 Las Vegas shooting. This might be because we tend to associate suicide, too, with mental illness.

“Despite much improvement in the treatment of mental illness and an increasingly open dialogue about the effects of mental illness from sufferers and professionals, the evidence shows that increasing numbers of the general public fear violence from those who are mentally ill," says Vahrmeyer.

My Reflections on Desensitization and the Atlanta Spa Shootings

It’s easier to look for a scapegoat, be it mental illness, video games or movies, or even heavy metal music, as it gives us something—or someone—to blame, almost giving us the feeling of being back in control in some way.

We Want Answers After a Tragedy

“It is human to want answers and human to seek a simple answer to what is actually a complex question: the complex answer holds us collectively responsible for the society in which we all live and co-create; the simple answer claiming the reason is due to mental illness, exonerates us from introspection and enables us to put distance between the actions of the latest gunman—the madman—and ourselves," says Vahrmeyer.

“It is a powerful psychological defense that allows us to maintain our own certainty about who we are and the society we live in.”

Stigma Persists

Zeroing in on the connection to psychological issues just adds to the stigma surrounding mental health, and makes people less likely to reach out for help, leading to worse public health outcomes.

Whereas some mental health conditions are perhaps becoming more accepted, like depression and anxiety, there’s still a stronger stigma around others like schizophrenia andbipolar disorder. In the aftermath of a mass shooting, as people make links between mental illness and gun violence, the result can be people believing that those with serious mental illnesses are dangerous.

Ultimately, if laws intended to reduce gun violence focused on people with mental health conditions, it would be a waste of resources as there are no links between mental illness and gun violence. Guns are potentially lethal in anyone’s hands, and more extensive education and training should be required before operating one.

How to Talk to Your Kids About School Shootings

Other Key Points For Consideration

Other factors common among mass murderers include feelings of social alienation, feelings of anger and revenge, and advance planning before carrying out the act.

While feelings of anger, for example, might be a symptom of some mental illnesses, it doesn’t mean that all mass shooters will have a mental illness. Or, even if a mass shooter did have a mental illness, it’s unlikely to have been that alone that caused them to carry out the act.

So, why do we often associate gun violence with mental illness in our minds? In part, because it’s a convenient scapegoat, and in part, because we remember past events in which mental illness was a factor. We can look at news coverage of acts of violence too, as these can influence the way in which we view people with mental illnesses.

What This Means For YouGun violence is something that can be upsetting to hear about, and traumatic to experience, but it is important to remember that anyone can be violent, regardless of their mental health. More research is needed to help understand why people might turn to violence, and more support is needed for those struggling with their mental health.

What This Means For You

Gun violence is something that can be upsetting to hear about, and traumatic to experience, but it is important to remember that anyone can be violent, regardless of their mental health. More research is needed to help understand why people might turn to violence, and more support is needed for those struggling with their mental health.

Gun Violence and Mental Illness: Understanding Links and Misconceptions

5 SourcesVerywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Pew Research Center.What the data says about gun deaths in the U.S.Knoll JL, Annas GD.Mass shootings and mental illness. In Gold LH, Simon RI, eds.Gun violence and mental illness. American Psychiatric Association;2016:81-104.McGinty EE.Mental illness and gun violence: Disrupting the narrative.PS. 2018;69(8):842-843. doi:10.1176/appi.ps.201800172Appelbaum PS.Law & psychiatry: Treatment of incompetent, dangerous criminal defendants: parsing the law.PS. 2012;63(7):630-632. doi:10.1176/appi.ps.201200630Swanson JW, McGinty EE, Fazel S, Mays VM.Mental illness and reduction of gun violence and suicide: Bringing epidemiologic research to policy.Ann Epidemiol. 2015;25(5):366-376. doi:10.1016/j.annepidem.2014.03.004

5 Sources

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Pew Research Center.What the data says about gun deaths in the U.S.Knoll JL, Annas GD.Mass shootings and mental illness. In Gold LH, Simon RI, eds.Gun violence and mental illness. American Psychiatric Association;2016:81-104.McGinty EE.Mental illness and gun violence: Disrupting the narrative.PS. 2018;69(8):842-843. doi:10.1176/appi.ps.201800172Appelbaum PS.Law & psychiatry: Treatment of incompetent, dangerous criminal defendants: parsing the law.PS. 2012;63(7):630-632. doi:10.1176/appi.ps.201200630Swanson JW, McGinty EE, Fazel S, Mays VM.Mental illness and reduction of gun violence and suicide: Bringing epidemiologic research to policy.Ann Epidemiol. 2015;25(5):366-376. doi:10.1016/j.annepidem.2014.03.004

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Pew Research Center.What the data says about gun deaths in the U.S.Knoll JL, Annas GD.Mass shootings and mental illness. In Gold LH, Simon RI, eds.Gun violence and mental illness. American Psychiatric Association;2016:81-104.McGinty EE.Mental illness and gun violence: Disrupting the narrative.PS. 2018;69(8):842-843. doi:10.1176/appi.ps.201800172Appelbaum PS.Law & psychiatry: Treatment of incompetent, dangerous criminal defendants: parsing the law.PS. 2012;63(7):630-632. doi:10.1176/appi.ps.201200630Swanson JW, McGinty EE, Fazel S, Mays VM.Mental illness and reduction of gun violence and suicide: Bringing epidemiologic research to policy.Ann Epidemiol. 2015;25(5):366-376. doi:10.1016/j.annepidem.2014.03.004

Pew Research Center.What the data says about gun deaths in the U.S.

Knoll JL, Annas GD.Mass shootings and mental illness. In Gold LH, Simon RI, eds.Gun violence and mental illness. American Psychiatric Association;2016:81-104.

McGinty EE.Mental illness and gun violence: Disrupting the narrative.PS. 2018;69(8):842-843. doi:10.1176/appi.ps.201800172

Appelbaum PS.Law & psychiatry: Treatment of incompetent, dangerous criminal defendants: parsing the law.PS. 2012;63(7):630-632. doi:10.1176/appi.ps.201200630

Swanson JW, McGinty EE, Fazel S, Mays VM.Mental illness and reduction of gun violence and suicide: Bringing epidemiologic research to policy.Ann Epidemiol. 2015;25(5):366-376. doi:10.1016/j.annepidem.2014.03.004

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