Mentally ill people kill people

Guns don’t kill people; people kill people. Many killers have mental health problems, and mental illness significantly contributes to gun violence and mass deaths. Because gun violence is such a problem in America, it is a prime country to look at the statistics regarding this issue. Reports suggest that up to 60% of perpetrators of mass shootings in the United States since 1970 displayed symptoms including acute paranoia, delusions, and depression before committing their crimes.^[1] Mental health systems in countries like America, where gun violence is so prevalent, are woefully inadequate.^[2] Not enough resources go into funding mental health initiatives and programs that can get people the help they need. Mental illness is often ignored or overlooked and there is no effective system in place that prevents the mentally ill from getting their hands on weapons that they then use to commit heinous crimes. If mentally ill people are given the support they need on a large scale, then gun violence would not be as prevalent as it is today. It isn’t the guns that are killing people, it is the mentally ill who are killing people.