I did some research. I may have perpetuated a stereotype that was unhelpful. In the United States social discourse often relates the causal effect of mental illness with mass shootings.
ASSUPTIONS we may make are:
(1) mental illness causes gun violence,
(2) psychiatric analysis can predict gun violence before it happens,
(3) US mass shootings cause us to fear mentally ill loaners, and
(4) because of the effect of mental illness, gun control will not prevent a future mass killing.
In particular cases this may be true. However, associating gun violence with mental illness stereotypes a vast and diverse population and oversimplifies. Mental illness is a medical condition and not a sign of a violent threat. Gun violence happens when people and guns come together in particular destructive ways. Gun violence has a social context that mental illness cannot describe. The lesson for me is not to forward stereotypes that simply don't exist.
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