Gun Violence Following Inpatient Psychiatric Treatment: Offense Characteristics, Sources of Guns, and Number of Victims

Abstract

Prohibiting all individuals with a history of psychiatric hospitalization from purchasing firearms, absent expanded background checks, was estimated to reduce the number of gun violence victims by only 3%.

Has the role of mental health problems in mass shootings been significantly underestimated?

“…Some have argued that mass shootings could be stopped by involuntarily committing people with mental health problems to psychiatric institutions, but there is no scientific evidence which supports that claim (Perera & Sisti, 2019), and institutionalizing tens of millions of Americans on an annual basis would be absurd. Preventing firearm purchases for all people with mental illness also seems unrealistic and unhelpful (Kivisto, 2017). Again, this would affect a huge portion of the population, almost all of whom are not violent.…”

A Reassessment of Blaming Mass Shootings on Mental Illness

“…Furthermore, individuals with serious mental illnesses constitute the minority of convicted violent gun offenders; for instance, only 104 of 838 adults (12.4%) charged with violent gun offenses in state prisons had a history of psychiatric hospitalization. 5 Although many individuals with serious mental illness have no history of psychiatric hospitalization, these results provide compelling evidence that gun violence cannot be attributed to mental illness alone. In addition, these and similar data point to at least 2 conclusions.…”

“…In regard to the specific association between serious mental illness and gun violence, 1-year follow-up data from the MacArthur Violence Risk Assessment Study revealed that only 23 of 951 individuals (2.4%) who had been released from an inpatient psychiatric setting engaged in gun violence; 21 of those who engaged in gun violence (91.3%) had a prehospitalization history of arrests. Furthermore, individuals with serious mental illnesses constitute the minority of convicted violent gun offenders; for instance, only 104 of 838 adults (12.4%) charged with violent gun offenses in state prisons had a history of psychiatric hospitalization . Although many individuals with serious mental illness have no history of psychiatric hospitalization, these results provide compelling evidence that gun violence cannot be attributed to mental illness alone.…”

“…For instance, states with higher gun ownership have higher rates of gun-related homicides . Even those with prior inpatient psychiatric hospitalization who may be banned in certain states from purchasing firearms report accessing guns from sources not subject to federal regulation (eg, family or friends); in the aforementioned study of violent gun offenders in state prisons, 78% of those who had a history of psychiatric hospitalization obtained guns from these nonregulated sources.…”