SEATTLE — After nearly every mass shooting, like a merry-go-round, arguments emerge that pin the violence on an individual's mental illness or the prevalence of extremely lethal guns. Ultimately, boiling it down to one, the other, or even both of those potential causes doesn't get us anywhere close to the nuance required to understand why gun violence happens.
Linking violent gun attacks and mental illness can stigmatize people with mental health conditions, despite the fact that those with mental illnesses are extremely unlikely to be perpetrators of violence. There are several important myths to bust about this relationship and facts to make clear.
The Seattle Times reviewed scientific studies, spoke with experts and probed state and federal gun laws to answer basic questions about mental health, gun violence and what we know about the factors that contribute to gun deaths.
