As in the aftermath of past mass shootings, elected officials appear divided over gun control reform.
Experts said an expansion of mental health services could help address mass shootings, especially among young people dealing with mental health challenges amid the pandemic.
A significant portion of the adult and adolescent populations have experienced mental health issues. Roughly 49.5% of adolescents have faced a mental health disorder at some point in their lives, the National Institute for Mental Health found in. Twenty-one percent of the adult population experienced some form of mental illness in 2020, the survey found. Advocates have said that people who suffer from mental health issues are more likely to be victims than perpetrators.
“It’s a historical culture of the U.S. — cowboys, the Wild West and it’s in the Constitution — but this phenomenon of flooding the country with guns deliberately and aggressively is relatively recent,” he added.