It sure looks like the government want to use the “mentally ill” as the scapegoat in their efforts at national ”gun control”. Those with mental illness are more likely the VICTIM of violent crime, rather than the perpetrator of violent crime. Less than 5% of violent crime is committed by the mentally ill.
*Straight from the NIH:
- ”...First, mental disorders are neither necessary, nor sufficient causes of violence. The major determinants of violence continue to be socio-demographic and socio-economic factors such as being young, male, and of lower socio-economic status.
- Second, members of the public undoubtedly exaggerate both the strength of the relationship between major mental disorders and violence, as well as their own personal risk from the severely mentally ill. It is far more likely that people with a serious mental illness will be the victim of violence.
- Third, substance abuse appears to be a major determinant of violence and this is true whether it occurs in the context of a concurrent mental illness or not. Those with substance disorders are major contributors to community violence, perhaps accounting for as much as a third of self-reported violent acts, and seven out of every 10 crimes of violence among mentally disordered offenders….”
And from another source [Medscape]:
It is essential to keep in mind that most people with mental illness are not violent.[2] A study of psychotic individuals found that those with a mental illness were responsible for only 5% of all violent crimes.[3]
-- HorizontalMike -- "Woodpeckers understand..."
