ABSTRACT
Restricting gun rights for people with mental illness is the one gun-control initiative that Republicans feel free to support. Links between guns and mental illness arise in the aftermath of many American mass shootings, in no small part because of the mental-health histories of the assailants. The first is that mental illness causes gun violence. In fact, surprisingly little evidence suggests that persons with mental illness are more likely than anyone else to commit gun crimes. Research also shows that stereotypes of violent madmen represent an inversion of reality. Many mental illnesses actually reduce a person's risk of violence, since these illnesses often produce social withdrawal. Psychiatric diagnosis can't predict gun crime before it happens. The association between violence and psychiatric diagnosis also shifts dramatically over time. American gun culture falsely paints mentally ill persons as dangerous loners.
