Mass shootings are difficult to prevent with mental health resources alone, experts say

NBC News / Comcast ^ | May 28, 2022 | By Melissa Chan and Elizabeth Chuck

[Oldeconomybuyer]

In the wake of yet another mass shooting, some Texas politicians have called for increased mental health services to help prevent the next tragedy.

But experts working in the field warn that there is no fully effective solution to stop these shootings before they happen, with some saying that blaming mental health is a deflection from the fact that gun control is a necessary part of prevention.

"We can do all the things we can to help students, but at the end of the day, if a student has the notion to go shoot up a school and has access to the weapons to do that, I'm not sure any measures that may or may not have taken place would necessarily prevent it," said Jill Cook, the executive director of the American School Counselor Association.

"If somebody comes to a door with a semiautomatic weapon," Cook said, "that's it then."

Although Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Wednesday that a "mental health challenge" had played a role in the massacre, the gunman had no known criminal history or mental health issues.

Less than 10 percent of shootings nationwide involve a suspect who has a mental illness, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

Experts said mental health providers can only do so much, as gun violence and firearm purchases surge nationwide.

"Mental health is not going to take us all the way there," Cohen said. "The mental health community cannot solve the problem of gun violence in America."

[VeniVidiVici]

Who reports them? Who orders them institutionalized? Use the Uvalde case as an example.

State law. Look up your state laws and you can research it yourself. Not that you will.

[DoughtyOne]

Isn’t that mental health field the pool of folks planned to replace the police?

What do you mean they can’t handle it alone.

That IS the plan! There will be no police in their perfect world.

[Mastador1]

It was 1927 the Bath school disaster, committed by an angry school board treasurer, angry about losing an election for city clerk. He was one sick puppy!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_School_disaster There have been school shootings and massacres throughout America's history.