Experts: Mental illness not main driver in mass shootings

President Donald Trump blames 'mentally ill monsters'

Experts say President Donald Trump's focus on "mentally ill monsters" oversimplifies the role of mental illness in public mass shootings and downplays the ease with which Americans can get firearms.

Trump on Monday addressed weekend shootings in Texas and Ohio that killed 31 people. Trump said, "Mental illness and hatred pulls the trigger, not the gun."

In response, mental health experts are repeating what they've said after previous mass shootings: Most people with mental illness are not violent and that access to firearms is a big part of the problem.

But some found common ground with Trump in support for red flag laws that can be used to temporarily disarm people believed to be dangerous. Seventeen states and the District of Columbia have passed such laws.


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