March 23, 2013

Mental Illness and Guns

By Matthew Ernst
Ever since the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting there has been much discussion about improving the nation's mental health care system. But what exactly does that mean? It seems that nearly all of us agree that we should keep firearms away from people who are mentally unstable, but accomplishing that is much more difficult than generally realized. We must remember that the term "mental illness" is only a general term that refers to more than 300 mental health disorders that are currently recognized. In order to thoroughly analyze this issue, we must differentiate between specific mental disorders, because not all mental illnesses lead to a high likelihood of violence. Thus, there will not be an effective "one size fits all" solution. Mental illness is much more prevalent than we might realize. In any given year, a full 25% of U.S. adults are diagnosable for at least one mental health disorder, with approximately 6% of the population suffering from a "seriously debilitating mental...(Read Full Article)