#Enough — Global School Walkout
On February 14, 2018, the United States and the world witnessed yet another mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. This time, though, we are seeing how tragedy, loss, anger and frustration is galvanising students around the U.S. like never before.
People have watched worldwide with horror and frustration as U.S. citizens continue to suffer extreme loss and grief due to gun violence. Many nations have instituted comprehensive firearm safety already, and find it difficult to understand the political climate within the U.S. on the issue. Many global citizens have expressed a willingness to share their stories of success and hope, and express support to the leaders for change in the United States.
The community of Women’s March Global supports the Women’s March Youth Empower action to not only support the young change-makers within the U.S., but also to challenge the false narrative that gun violence in schools is a part of modern life.
We share the story below, written by Caitie Gutierrez, from Women’s March Sydney . Caitie bravely uses her voice to shed light on a the connection between mental illness and gun violence.
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Once again it is time for Americans’ never-ending cyclical argument about gun rights and gun control. Conservatives and politicians who have received anywhere from thousands to millions of dollars from the National Rifle Association are searching for a scapegoat to make the issue about anything other than guns. Liberals are searching for anything to form a valid argument to support a ban on assault rifles. For decades now, mental illness has been argued as the cause of white men (the population most likely to be the aggressor in a mass shooting) committing such atrocities.
However, according to a 2016 report published by the American Psychiatric Association (APA), “mass shootings by people with serious mental illness represent less than 1% of all yearly gun-related homicides. The overall contribution of people with serious mental illness to violent crimes is only about 3%. When these crimes are examined in detail, an even smaller percentage of them are found to involve firearms.” Despite having been presented with this information, mental health stigma still runs rampant within this political conversation.
As someone with lived experience of mental illness, every time there is a mass shooting I do not only internalize the horrors of innocent lives senselessly lost and politicians’ lack of action to put a stop to this, but I also internalize the opinions of people in my life who consistently call these shooters “crazy”, “sick”, and “insane.”
There was outrage across social media about Trump removing the Obama-era gun restrictions on those with certain mental health diagnoses. However, according to this study, “laws intended to reduce gun violence that focus on a population representing less than 3% of all gun violence with be extremely low yield, ineffective, and wasteful of scare resources. Perpetrators of mass shootings are unlikely to have a history of involuntary psychiatric hospitalization. Thus, databases intended to restrict access to guns and establish by gun laws that broadly target people with mental illness will not capture this group of individuals.” This information is easy to find by a 2-second Google search, so why is there continued stigmatization of mental illness within this conversation?
I cannot tell you how many times I have shared this information with my peers. People just ignore my commentary or stop replying to me when I’ve presented them with legitimate statistics, statements from psychologists, and research studies from peer-reviewed journals. Since immersing myself in spaces online where marginalized people with mental health diagnoses can discuss their lived experiences without the gaze of those who do not live this existence, I have become more and more aware of ableism.
Ableism is a set of taught practices and subconscious or conscious behaviors against people with disabilities and mental or chronic illnesses which assumes that being able-bodied (without physical disability or chronic illness) or neurotypical (without mental disability/disorder/illness) is the “norm.” People who have these disabilities or illnesses don’t fit that “norm” and therefore their agency and abilities are often belittled and negated.
Mental illness has been demonized for centuries within many cultures across the world. People who do not experience mental illness still see those of us with mental health diagnoses as “other”, as though we are not able to form levelheaded, balanced arguments or provide trustworthy information. Our hard work is presumed unworthy of recognition. We are assumed to be out of control, out of touch, too intense, and potentially violent. It is a common and false belief that we are completely incapable of understanding the world around us.
The study published by the APA has stated that “mental health stigma is a major barrier to access and treatment of mental illness.” This prevents people from ever disclosing their symptoms to their families, friends, peers or doctors. This can be the cause of serious mental illnesses to go without proper diagnosis and treatment, and ultimately become deadly to the sufferer.
I have a mental illness, and despite all of the trauma and abuse I have experienced and all of the emotional pain I have endured, I have not once considered purchasing an assault weapon and taking the lives of innocent people, including people who I feel have wronged me in this life. I know this sentiment rings true for the vast majority of those living with mental illnesses.
What really hurts my mental health is having to consistently defend myself and my identity to those who continue to perpetuate mental health stigma. It is exhausting, hurtful, and I am re-traumatized every single time there is a mass shooting because people truly believe, without any solid evidence or proof, that people like me are inherently violent because of our diagnosis. If you still feel that this is a mental health issue, here is another thing to ponder on:
There are plenty women, gender-diverse individuals, Black people, Indigenous people, and people of color with mental health diagnoses as well. In fact, we are more likely to have a mental illness than other populations. If mental illness is to blame, why aren’t the vast majority of mass shootings committed by us?
