An NRA spokeswoman blamed an ‘insane monster’ for the mass shooting in Florida — here’s the truth about mental illness and guns

President Donald Trump and the National Rifle Association have both blamed recent deadly shootings on individuals'
But mental health issues aren't predictive of violent outbursts.
Although one in five Americans struggle with mental illness, people with mental health problems account for just 3% of violent crime.
There is a different, notable link between violence and mental illness: People with major mental illnesses are 2.5 times more likely to be the victims of violent outbursts than the general public.

As mass shootings by young, angry men armed with machine guns become deadlier and more frequent in the US, politicians and powerful gun groups are arguing that mental health problems may be to blame for these violent massacres.

Florida shooter was mentally disturbed,after the deadly shooting in Parkland, Florida that killed 17 people on Valentine's Day

Then, Wednesday night at a CNN town hall, NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch insisted that the 19-year-old former student who shot up last week, was an "insane monster" who shouldn't have had access to guns.

"This individual was nuts, and I — nor the millions of people that I represent as a part of this organization that I'm here speaking for — none of us support people who are crazy, who are a danger to themselves, who are a danger to others, getting their hands on a firearm," Loesch said.

Cruz did reportedly have a checkered history of jealous and violent outbursts — but that's not the same thing as a bona fide mental health diagnosis.

In fact, the scientific evidence we have on violence and mental health in the US shows that mentally ill people are not the ones responsible for the growing number of deadly mass shootings plaguing the nation.

Mass shooters dont usually have diagnosed mental health issues

In 2015, psychiatrist Michael Stone catalogued a comprehensive database of more than 235 mass murders committed in the US. He found that in reality, about a quarter of the perpetrators of those acts were "clearly mentally ill."

Stone said many people assume that because someone has committed a deadly act, that must mean they're crazy. But that's not true. The majority of the rage-filled, bigoted, grudge-holding men who plan these kinds of tragic killings aren't mentally ill, he said.

In fact, according to the American Psychiatric Association, people with serious mental health problems account for just 3% of all violent crime, though as many as one in five people in the US experience a mental illness every year.

Most mentally ill people are never violent

According to Stone's research, even shooters who are mentally ill aren't typically on anyone's radar before they act. Three of the most dramatic mass murders by people with diagnosable mental illness in recent history include the shooting at Sandy Hook that killed 27 (Adam Lanza), the movie-theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado that killed 12 in 2012 (James Holmes), and the six people who died in Tucson when Rep Gaby Giffords was shot in 2011 (Jared Lee Loughner).

The perpetrators of these deadly crimes were all "young men, barely 20, with no record of previous mental hospitalizations and no compelling reason why they should not have been permitted to buy rifles," Stone said.

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An NRA spokeswoman blamed an ‘insane monster’ for the mass shooting in Florida — here’s the truth about mental illness and guns

Mass shooters dont usually have diagnosed mental health issues

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