Momentum builds for mental health reform, but not for guns
Momentum is building for mental health reform in Congress as lawmakers seek to respond to the spate of mass shootings that have rocked this nation.
From our perspective, approving mental health care is long overdue, and a key response to not only mass shootings, but suicides. That said, without any action on guns, it’s an incomplete response. Yes, the seriously mentally ill are more violent than the general population, but the vast majority are nonviolent. Plus, most mass shooters don’t have documented histories of mental illness. It’s doubtful solely adopting mental health measures will reduce gun violence.
Still, doing nothing is not the answer, and if enacting gun control laws is inexplicably off-limits, then mental health is at least a starting point, especially since more funding and resources are needed. As the National Alliance of Mental Illness noted in a 2014 report, states cut nearly $4.35 billion from mental health programs between 2009 and 2012.
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, who has adamantly opposed gun-control measures, has introduced interesting legislation that would, among other things, expand mental health reporting to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. It would also fund new screening and treatment for offenders with mental illness via court-administered programs. It has the backing of NAMI as well as the National Rifle Association.
Bipartisan support is also coalescing around companion bills in Congress that would, among other measures, establish more psychiatric beds and address privacy obstacles that keep family members from being informed, and taking action, about a loved one. Such legislation is thorny — balancing privacy concerns with mandated care — and it won’t come cheap.
These are important and overdue measures, but it’s disappointing that lawmakers, especially Cornyn, are incapable of also charting a course on gun-control legislation. There are simply too many guns in this country, and they are far too easy to buy. Improved universal background checks, including for violent and drug misdemeanors, are needed for all gun sales. There is also evidence that permit-to-purchase laws make a difference in reducing shootings. Such laws require a background check and a permit before purchasing a gun. After Missouri repealed its permit-to-purchase law in 2007, its murder rate went up 14 percent through 2012, Johns Hopkins University found.
Another way to preserve gun rights but exert some public safety control would be to allow temporary confiscation of a person’s guns if he or she is found to be in a state of mental duress.
Roughly 33,000 Americans a year die from guns. That is a national tragedy. Better mental health funding for screening, treatment and early intervention is welcome and sorely needed. But that is not a free pass for Congress to ignore gun control measures that will save some of those thousands of lives we lose year after year after year.