Gun violence is more than a "mental health crisis"
President Donald Trump and many politicians have blamed recent mass shootings on mental illness. A UC Davis psychiatrist says they're getting it wrong — and the actual crisis is far more nuanced.
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Show Notes
A pair of mass shootings have renewed the spotlight on the nation's high rate of gun deaths. POLITICO's Dan Diamond reviews why health care groups say that gun violence deaths represent a "public health crisis" — and how GOP congressmen and the current Surgeon General avoid using that term.
Then Dan talks with Amy Barnhorst, a UC Davis psychiatrist who specializes in gun violence research, about her work and legislation intended to reduce deaths (starts at the 3:15 mark), what she makes of recent comments by President Donald Trump and Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden about the role of mental illness and video games (15:45), and how physicians were mobilized by the NRA's "stay in their lane" tweet and what she would advise politicians to do (21:30).
MENTIONED ON THE SHOW
Dr. Barnhorst's February 2018 New York Times op-ed on why the mental health system shouldn't be responsible for stopping mass shooters.
A Sactown Magazine article looks closer at UC Davis' work on gun violence research.
California's implemented a gun violence restraining order law, devised in part by Dr. Barnhorst.
The president linked gun violence with mental health in a speech on Monday. Biden also decried violent video games as a possible factor.
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