Once again, we awake to tragic reports of another senseless mass shooting. At Sunday’s Gilroy Garlic Festival in Northern California, a 19-year-old sent a stream of lethal bullets into a crowd of helpless people. Such irrational violence prompts the question: Why would anyone do this?
And to this question, the assailant had an answer.
“Because I’m really angry,” he yelled to his crowd of victims after someone screamed out and asked him why he was attacking them. Sometimes, anger feels uncontrollable, and for some people, it is. According to the Mayo Clinic, explosive and violent outbursts of anger can be linked to a severe mental health disorder.
To shoot up a crowd of helpless people immediately implies ill mental health, so the Gilroy Garlic Festival tragedy is indicative of a far-reaching problem. In the wake of many mass shootings, we often have our suspicions confirmed, and it comes to light the assailant struggled with symptoms of mental illness.
In 2018, the Department of Homeland Security issued a study of 28 mass attacks that took place in the year prior. In this report, the Department of Homeland Security details that 64% of violent attackers experienced mental health symptoms before their attacks. Furthermore, according to an FBI report, many active shooters had experienced suicidal thoughts prior to their attacks.
We often search for temporary measures that sound like fixes; ban assault weapons, arm school teachers, require licenses to own a gun, and so on. But if the majority of people who carry out violent attacks struggle with mental illness and suicidal thoughts, why don’t we consider intervening at the root of the problem?
Instead of attempting to reduce troubled people’s ability to obtain a firearm, we must reduce their desire to misuse the lethal weapon in the first place.
One in five teenagers show signs of a mental health disorder, yet over half do not receive necessary mental health services. That’s millions of children sitting in our schools wrestling with unchecked psychological problems.
If millions of children were sitting in classrooms with untreated measles, there would be a national outcry. We would demand our health providers, school systems, and legislators immediately intervene before the problem worsens.
We must have the same response when it comes to mental health.
Schools are the perfect point of intervention. Tragedies such as the Gilroy Garlic Festival remind us that many of our youth feel driven to extremes. Combating ill mental health early on can reduce the number of violent tragedies we see overall.
Furthermore, while still in school, these individuals are still reachable to have important conversations. They have not retreated into solitude, and they are in immediate access to school counselors and other helpful resources. Because youth in schools are still at a developmental age, having a conversation about mental health can help to normalize the topic and encourage them to seek help rather than let an emerging condition fester.
Many gun control activists demand immediate action. Yet we know the gridlocked nature of our political environment and the generally slow pace of government action. Insisting that the only solution for violent crimes must come from gun regulations accepts an unnecessarily delayed response, and one that’s far from certain to succeed.
Why not instead put the agency in our own hands and seriously talk about mental health awareness?
Addressing gun violence with discussions and programs about mental health is not a cop-out. Rather, it is an immediate reaction that seeks to stop violent ideation in the first place instead of just preventing its eventual violent manifestation.
So watch out for at-risk children in schools and adults in society. Encourage each other to talk openly and honestly about our emotions so that we may seek help for ourselves and each other. Don’t just seek to remove the weapon, but fix the desire to inflict harm.
Elyse Sheppard is a public policy student at the University of Virginia and is currently interning at a think tank in Washington, D.C.
