Improving Our Democracy:
Gun Violence and the Connection to Mental Health
By Colin D.
Even as America is a very developed and educated democracy, gun violence and the connection with mental health pose a serious problem. While having such a developed government along with our society having a large function in our democracy, we still
see this problem every day on the news.
This is an extremely controversial topic, especially in a country with such a high rate of gun homicides. As of December 7th, 2023, we saw a whopping 40,00 deaths due to gun violence in the US, not including gun related injuries. Looking at recent
years, we saw a record amount of gun deaths in America. Gun violence has increased greatly since 2000, going from 28,663 gun homicides in 2000, to 48,830 deaths due to gun violence in 2021. This is an increase of about 20,000 deaths, over a 21
year time span, far more than the difference from 1980 to 2000. Now this statistically does not make sense, as gun laws have become more strict, and are largely enforced across the US.
The mental health changes we have seen may have an impact on gun related deaths, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. In the first year of the pandemic, a 25 percent increase in depression and anxiety was seen worldwide. Anxiety and depression are a very real mental illness, and mental illness is one of the major reasons for gun violence and death in the United States. We see that between the time of the pandemic, as mental health decreased, mass shooting incidents increased by a whopping 19% by the time it was over. If we want to make our society a better place to live we need to identify and support people who are struggling with mental health. Most mass shootings are due to incredible stress and anxiety that can’t be relieved otherwise due to lack of support, or other reasons.
So if it cannot be prevented by a diagnosis, or a warning, we need to find a way to make stress and anxiety less common in our society. Some ways this can be achieved might include effective education about the risks and possible stress of social media and its connection to mental health. We could build connections with isolated people, or people that don'’'t have proper support in their lives.
This could include community support networks, as a link to people needing somebody in their lives to trust and talk to if they have nobody else. These networks will provide people the support they need and a safe environment to share their troubles. It could be a volunteer hotline, free for people who are in a mental crisis to talk to a designated professional.
In conclusion, to better help our society and strengthen our democracy with regard to gun violence and mental health, we need to identify individuals who may be struggling and provide support networks.