Guns, Mental Illness, and Violence: What is the Real Danger?

• In Event: Criminal Risk Among People with Mental Illness

Abstract

In response to recent mass shootings, policymakers have argued for stricter legislation to prevent individuals with mental illness from accessing firearms. These renewed efforts to curb gun violence have been made without deference to existing evidence on the consequences of gun access among the mentally disordered. While there is little evidence to support an increased risk of gun violence, research has demonstrated a relationship between firearm access among disordered individuals and suicidal ideation. Further, the paucity of available gun violence data has limited efforts to further elucidate these relationships. We attempt to address this research gap by comparing a formerly institutionalized patient sample with a community comparison group to determine whether firearm access is associated with violence and suicidal ideation. We find a statistically significant interaction between patient status and firearm access predicting suicidal ideation. This indicates that the association between suicidal ideation and firearm access is stronger amongst our patient sample. Interestingly, there appears to be no difference in the association between violence toward others and firearm access across the two samples. These findings call into question policies aimed at reducing gun violence by targeting individuals with mental illness.

Authors

• Miranda Baumann, Georgia State University

• Brent Teasdale, Georgia State University