GUN CONTROL AND MENTAL ILLNESS Which is More to Blame? Tyler Mardis 11/30/2013 CRIMJ 241 Murder rates and gun ownership per 100,000 people 1 INTRODUCTION Does gun control work? What are some other alternatives to gun control? Does mental illness play a factor in mass shootings and killings? 40 separate mass shootings since Columbine in April, 1999 Murder rates and gun ownership per 100,000 people 2 MASS SHOOTINGS Columbine April 20, 1999 Columbine, Colorado Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold Killed 13; injured additional 24 Sandy Hook December 14, 2012 Newtown, Connecticut Adam Lanza Killed 20 children; 6 staff, and mother Virginia Tech April 16, 2007 Blacksburg, Virginia Seung-Hui Cho Killed 32; injured additional 17 Murder rates and gun ownership per 100,000 people 3 LEAKAGE Communication to a third party of intent to do harm on a target Harris and Klebold demonstrated 8 warning behaviors Harris and Klebold asked a friend to purchase firearms Also posted things on their website such as kill em all! before shootings Murder rates and gun ownership per 100,000 people 4 POLITICS AROUND MASS SHOOTINGS 1994 Assault Weapon Ban Bill Clinton Banned a certain number of semi- automatic weapons and magazines Only banned weapons manufactured after the ban No statistical evidence that it reduced gun crime Proposed 2013 Assault Weapon Ban Barack Obama Would have reinstated 1994 AWB Reintroduced by Senator Dianne Feinstein D-CA Voted down in April, 2013 in Senate (60-40) Murder rates and gun ownership per 100,000 people 5 TYPES OF MASS SHOOTINGS Rampage shootings Most common form today Columbine Virginia Tech Other types Mass murders Terrorist attacks Targeted shootings Government shootings Murder rates and gun ownership per 100,000 people 6 LINKS BETWEEN MENTAL ILLNESS AND MASS SHOOTINGS Tucson shootings (Jared Loughner) Columbine Virginia Tech Diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic in 2011 Depression Diagnosed with severe anxiety; declared mentally ill in 2005 Murder rates and gun ownership per 100,000 people 7 MOTIVATIONS Many stressors contribute to mass shootings Financial (71%) Social (61%) Psychological (32%) Romantic (25%) Other (18%) Many other shooters have psychological disorders Most have a mental illness, according to researchers Murder rates and gun ownership per 100,000 people 8 WOULD A FIREARM BAN WORK? Kates and Mauser, two Harvard researchers, say the assumption that the U.S. has highest gun rates are false. Most countries that have high gun ownership rates have low murder and suicide rates Whereas most countries with strict gun control have higher murder and suicide rates, such as Russia Harvard Study Murder rates and gun ownership per 100,000 people 9 KATES AND MAUSER TABLE CountryMurder RateGun Ownership Russia20.54 (2002)4,000 Luxembourg9.01 (2002)c. 0 Hungary2.22 (2003)2,000 Finland1.98 (2004)39,000 Sweden1.87 (2001)24,000 Poland1.79 (2003)1,500 France1.65 (2003)30,000 Murder rates and gun ownership per 100,000 people 2013 Harvard Study 10 Murder rates and gun ownership per 100,000 people 11 VIDEO OF OBAMA ON DAY OF SANDY HOOK SHOOTING Murder rates and gun ownership per 100,000 people 12 CONCLUSIONS Mental illness plays a significant role in mass shootings and there needs to be greater research into its role Stricter gun control would do very little to curb crime rates More murders are committed with knives and hammers than firearms each year in the United States (FBI Uniform Crime Report) Murder rates and gun ownership per 100,000 people 13