knapplc
Active member
The correlation between mental illness and gun violence seems weak to non existent to me. Mental illness rates are somewhat high in the U.S., but it is also high in Norway, Sweden, The Netherlands, Denmark, France, Spain, Australia, and Canada as well.
This tells me there is either no correlation at all, or these countries with high rates of mental illness and few gun violence issues have few gun violence issues because of their gun laws.
And let’s say there is a weak correlation - shouldn’t we take both approaches? Make it a bit harder to get a gun, and easier/cheaper to get treatment for mental illness?
For the sake of the mentally ill, yes, we should obviously make it easier to get help/treatment. That's the simple, humane thing to do.
But for those expecting that to have any impact on gun violence, they're going to be disappointed. But at least some good would come out of that disappointment.