Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott is calling for more resources for mental health following a mass shooting at an outlet mall in Allen, Texas, on Saturday in which a gunman killed at least eight people. Abbott presented those resources as the solution for the gun violence that has wracked the state in recent years. But there’s little evidence increased funding for mental health services will reduce gun violence.
“What Texas is doing in a big-time way, we are working to address that anger and violence but going to its root cause, which is addressing the mental health problems behind it,” Abbott said during an interview on Fox News Sunday. “People want a quick solution. The long-term solution here is to address the mental health issue.”
It’s one of many times since Abbott took office that the Republican governor and his party have invoked mental health issues as the root cause of mass shootings in the state, including last year’s shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, the 2019 El Paso Walmart shooting, the 2019 Midland-Odessa shooting, the 2018 Santa Fe High School shooting, and the 2017 First Baptist Church shooting.
President Joe Biden, on the other hand, reiterated his calls Sunday for more federal gun control, including legislation banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, enacting universal background checks, requiring safe storage of guns, and ending immunity for gun manufacturers.
Though the Texas legislature has allocated more than $1.5 billion toward mental health services in the last few years, those services remain inaccessible to many in Texas, which faces a critical shortage of mental health professionals.
What’s more, it’s not clear that addressing the state’s mental health crisis will have any meaningful impact on preventing gun violence, given the large body of research that shows most individuals with serious mental health issues never become violent. Rather, Republicans’ rhetoric around mental health…
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