Guns, Culture or Mental Health? Framing Mass Shootings as a Public Health Crisis

Abstract

In recent years, public health scholars and policymakers have been calling for increased research on the public health implications of gun violence. However, scientific research on this issue has been stifled by a 1996 budget rider that eliminated Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) funding for gun research. In this study, we examined newspaper coverage of three mass shootings that took place over a 20-year period before and after the passage of this budget rider. We found that sources and frames provided by news media to contextualize gun violence shifted markedly over time, progressing from episodic and individual-level frames to broader thematic societal-level concerns, with increased discussion of mental health but limited discourse explicitly related to public health.

A systematic review on the relationship between mental health, radicalization and mass violence

“…This limited body of evidence on the relationship between radicalization and mental health contrasts with the public media and some government actions suggesting violent (terroristic) acts are very frequently associated with perpetrators’ mental health status; this is then seen to be a consequence of failings in mental health systems [18]. This stigma-driven prejudgement frequently surfaces in the public eye where mental illnesses are equated with danger and violence.…”

Mass violence, radicalization and terrorism: A role for psychiatric profession?

“…This contrasts with the epidemiological reality that the majority of the severely mentally ill individuals never become violent. On the contrary, mental illness is strongly linked with being a victim and increased risk of suicide, a manner of death that accounts for more than half of the firearm-related deaths annually in the US [3, 2]. In this sense, media framing of mass violence blames these events on breakdowns in mental healthcare and policy, obscuring the much more complex experiences of mental illness, and scapegoating the mentally ill for shocking acts of public violence [2].…”

“…However, given the delicacy of this topic and the strong public opinion, media framing, securing funding for research in this area proves difficult. Exemplary is that, due to political pressure, for a long period research on the relation between gun violence and mental health has been withheld by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) [2].…”

Detecting Frames in News Headlines and Its Application to Analyzing News Framing Trends Surrounding U.S. Gun Violence

“…The mental illness of gunmen is often a focal point in the coverage of mass shootings (McGinty et al, 2014). Related to the issue of mental health are broader concerns about troubled individuals who lack the social support and resources to receive the help that they need (DeFoster and Swalve, 2018). The discussion about race and ethnicity has also emerged as a salient frame, in that news coverage of gun violence may differ somewhat depending on who the perpetrators are (Leavy and Maloney, 2009).…”