Lethal force incidents; CCW holders....
In short, most spree shooter(active shooter) incidents are done by individuals with either severe mental health problems or felony records . . .
I think this is an important aspect of the mass-shooting debate. I'd like to report on an ironic case of unintended consequences (refutation of an anti-2A argument) that may provide data of interest on this matter.
A day or two ago there was an article -- on a political site -- with the headline “Mental Health vs. Gun Control: A Devil's Bargain”
In the opening passages of the article there was this declaration: “Before we get to the details, let's review some basic facts: Only 5% or less of violent act are committed by people with serious mental illness. Mental illness alone causes virtually no increase in the likelihood that any person will do violence.”
The words “only 5% or less” were hyperlinked to a research paper from the American Journal of Psychiatry (
http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/article.aspx?articleid=96905 ) titled “The Population Impact of Severe Mental Illness on Violent Crime.”
Unfortunately for the author of the anti-2A article (
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/node?page=1 ) I went to the linked article and read it, after which I appended this comment to his article:
“Really?
“First of all, the study examined ALL violent acts, not just murders or attempted murders, so the statistic you mention is meaningless when applied to the question of the propensity of persons to commit homicides with firearms.
“But, even so -- from the study:
“Quote:
Offense Type:
“Population-attributable risk fractions were broken down by category of offense. Higher population-attributable risk fractions were found for homicide and attempted homicide (18.2%) and arson (15.7%). Population-attributable risk fractions for threats and harassment was 7.5%; for assaulting an officer, 6.8%, for aggravated assault, 6.3%; sexual offenses, 4.9%; robbery, 3.6%, and common assault, 3.1%.”
“So – members of the mentally-ill population are six times more likely to commit homicide or attempted homicide than they are to, say, swat someone with a stick. Now -- do you think that’s true of the population at large? Because, if non-mentally ill members of the general population are not six times more likely to kill someone, or to attempt to, than to swat someone with a stick, then there is only one conclusion that can be drawn – mentally ill persons are many times more likely to commit murder than are non-mentally ill persons.
“In fact, would it not be logical to assume that one would have to be mentally ill to want to go out and murder multiple persons whom one does not even know, regardless of the method used?
“One must be careful when bending research statistics to favor one’s own desires, antipathies or preconceived opinions.” [end of my posted comment]
I have provided the links (above) to the original anti-2A article and to the psychiatric research paper in case anyone would like to add any of the linked material to their stash of actual evidence relating to the possession and use of arms by US citizens.
