Another day, another shooting, another finger pointing to mental illness.
With the extensive news coverage of gun violence, it seems there is a mass shooting in the United States every single day—but the reality is far worse.
According to the Gun Violence Archive, there were 44,313 gun violence deaths in the United States in 2022. Of these, 20,223 deaths were from homicide, murder, accidents, or defensive gun use and 24,090 were from suicide. Furthermore, 647 qualified as mass shootings,1 which are broadly defined as incidents in which 4 or more individuals—not including the shooter—are shot.2 Alarmingly, gun violence is now the leading cause of death for US children and adolescents.3
So far, 2023 is looking similarly violent. As of late March, there were 10,007 gun violence deaths and 130 mass shootings in 2023. Of the deaths, 4265 were from homicide, murder, accidents, or defensive gun use, and 5742 were from suicide.4
Public responses to mass shootings, in particular, often include speculations about the shooter’s mental state. Many politicians and commentators across party lines respond to mass shootings by stating that mental illness is a—if not the—reason for the incidents, and it is not uncommon for media outlets to make connections between mental illness and gun violence in their reports.5
This belief is reportedly common among the general US population regardless of political affiliation. According to a CBS News poll from June 2022, 47% of respondents believe mass shootings are more common in the United States than in other countries because of mental health issues, and 60% and 61% of Republicans and Democrats, respectively, believe better mental health screening and treatment would be 1 of the most effective ways to prevent mass shootings.6
As psychiatric clinicians know, the evidence tells a different story.
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