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While some have linked school shootings to “lack of mental health services” and hint that there would be fewer such incidents if people were under the watchful eye of mental health specialists, the true facts are either buried or obscured.
A recent Fox News report admits that “Researchers lacked data on a lot of factors that can influence gun violence, but they did find fewer school shootings occurred in states with mandatory background checks and higher spending on mental health and education.” 1
According to this report, spending more money on mental health equals less gun violence. If that were the case then one would expect to find the violent offenders were not receiving mental health care. But the exact opposite is true.
National Institute of Mental Health Admits Violent Link to Psychiatric Drugs
These observations were made in a NIMH (National Institute of Mental Health) report:
“And, of course, scripts linking guns and mental illness arise in the aftermath of many US mass shootings in no small part because of the psychiatric histories of the assailants. Reports suggest that up to 60% of perpetrators of mass shootings in the United States since 1970 displayed symptoms including acute paranoia, delusions, and depression before committing their crimes…. Aurora, Colorado, movie theater shooter James Holmes ‘was seeing a psychiatrist specializing in schizophrenia’ before he opened fire in a crowded theater…Isla Vista, California, shooter Elliot Rodger suffered from Asperger’s disorder and took psychotropic medications.” 2
Psychology Today Contributor says Suicide and Violence Related to Psych Drugs
Lennard J. Davis bolsters this viewpoint in a piece he wrote for Psychology Today:
“It’s been well known that adolescents and young people have an increased risk of suicide when they begin to take SSRIs. But what we may forget is that suicide is an impulsive behavior that is turned against oneself. But impulses, particularly violent ones, can be turned against others.
“An accompanying effect of SSRI’s is the dulling of feelings that cause depression—and one of the main feelings in this line is empathy. If empathy is dulled and violent impulses increase when young people are on SSRI’s, then certainly that is a recipe for causing harm to others.”
Davis seems to realize these drugs are dangerous as he then states, “…we also have to entertain the idea that those drugs may have directly or indirectly contributed to the violence that resulted…After all, drugs are drugs—with effects and side effects. We need to know more about how these drugs work before we decide that the best policy is to get as many trouble adolescents on them as possible. The physician’s motto: ‘Do no harm’ is more relevant than ever in this scenario.” 3
Scientists in PLOS Report Warn of Serious Adverse Effects
It has been admitted in a Public Library of Science (PLOS) report that “acts of violence towards others are a genuine and serious adverse drug event associated with a relatively small group of drugs. Varenicline [Chantex], which increases the availability of dopamine, and antidepressants with serotonergic [denoting a nerve ending that releases and is stimulated by serotonin] effects were the most strongly and consistently implicated drugs. Prospective studies to evaluate systematically this side effect are needed to establish the incidence, confirm differences among drugs and identify additional common features.” 4
While researchers ponder further studies to “evaluate systematically this side effect”, the public remains at risk.
What is the Solution?
The real perpetrators of violent behavior are the psychiatrists peddling and the drug companies that continue to manufacture these drugs.
If only one person died at the hands of a murderous maniac on a psychiatric drug, that would be one person too many. But the number of lives lost to violent mass shootings since the year 2000 is over four hundred.5
How many of the perpetrators were on psychiatric drugs? Many times those facts are hidden so one can only speculate. But as the NIMH revealed, there are several shooters openly acknowledged as having been under the effect of psychotropic drugs during their shooting rampage.
What will it take to remove the offending drugs from the marketplace? Apparently, concern for humanity on the part of drug producers and psychiatrists is not forthcoming. Profit and greed have replaced the Hippocratic oath in the so-called medical profession known as psychiatry. It is time we all raise our voice on this issue.
1 http://www.foxnews.com/health/2016/12/13/gun-laws-mental-health-spending-tied-to-fewer-school-shootings.html
2 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4318286/
3 https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/obsessively-yours/201212/newtown-shootings-caution-about-violence-and-ssris
4 http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0015337
5 http://time.com/4368615/orlando-mass-shootings-chart/
People always want to point to some European country and say how they don’t have the gun violence we see here in America. People like to quote from fake news sources like CNN and similar U.S. propaganda centers. Here is an actual study with real number: https://crimeresearch.org/2018/08/new-cprc-research-how-a-botched-study-fooled-the-world-about-the-u-s-share-of-mass-public-shootings-u-s-rate-is-lower-than-global-average/
A map of the world is provided with the darker colors representing nations with the highest percentages of numbers killed per 100,000 in population. France is darker than the U.S.,Russia is darker, most African countries are much darker as is the middle east, Central American countries, South American, etc. This study is from 2011 to 2015. I’d say European countries have gotten worse since 2015 with the high influx of Muslim immigrants.
Their are factions in the U.S. working to eliminate gun ownership in the U.S. They are communist and anti-American and their stronghold is the Democrat Party.
The proliferation of guns is the only legitimate cause of gun related homicides in America. Statistics prove that countries that limit guns have less shootings. As for the connection to religion, the rate of violent crime is associated with birth rates and age of the population–and has nothing to do with religion. As demonstrated by “Doomarius” comments above, organized religion often promotes intolerance and hatred.
Research into gun control and homicides will demonstrate the opposite. With that said, the fact remains that the dangerous side effects of psychiatric drugs can be found behind the violence and suicide worldwide. https://www.cchrint.org/pdfs/violence-report.pdf
Do you think that the children in this country may be more mentally stable if their parents where able to stay home and take care of them, rather than sending them away to a sitter 6 weeks after their born?
Historian David Barton did research on the changes of behavior in public school after prayer and Bible reading were banned in ’63. His findings are stunning. All bad things, including violence increased, while all the good grades, good behavior decreased. His graphs of the numbers point back to ’63 when the Supreme Court made their rulings. “God is not mocked. Whatsoever a man (or a nation) sows, that will he also reap.” These same changes did NOT occur in private schools.
Do you have a source for the David Barton information?
We are not talking about religion in schools, but prayer and Bible reading. America was founded a Christian Republic. Our Declaration appeals to the God of heaven because our appeals to the King of England fell on deaf ears and our forefathers. The Bible was in public schools as it was considered the most valuable book in teaching children true morality and the basic Christian faith. Learning to read the Bible was a main reason for our education, along with learning true and good morality. This made good citizens. Not all became Christians, but they did learn the basics laws of nature and laws of God, being one in the same. In so doing they learned right from wrong, good from evil, and about facing God on the judgment day. Today, no Christian morality is taught in schools. All is relative. There is no absolute truth. However, when people learn that garbage, they have no inner training to keep them from doing evil. The school shooters have generally been atheist secular humanists. They are exactly what they have learned in school. All morality is relative. There is no life after death, no judgment, no God. We came from apes. Man made up all morality, so what’s the point?
Also because students no longer prayer in our schools, they are not invoking God’s blessing or protection. Before ’63 there were hardly any incidences of violence in public school.
I’m using this article in a research paper, can I please have citations in MLA format?
Also, just for others who want to use this and other articles in the future, can you add a Citation button?
I have sent your request to the author. However you might find this publication more useful for your paper: https://www.cchrint.org/pdfs/violence-report.pdf
As stated in some articles, school and other mass shootings are the result of multiple interacting causes, not just one. I would love access to data and information to do a multi- factorial analysis of the possible correlations in each mass shooting. Such as data points on each perpetrator of eveey shooting regarding: mental health diagnosis, past treatment history, psychiatric medications, past victimization history ( including bullying), individual access to guns, gun monitoring polices of state of incident, perpetrator’s coping strategies and support system, religious membership/ beliefs, exposure to violence on media, history of self inflicted violence, etc. Attempting to assume causation for any one individual factor is ignorant. Even assuming causation due to being on psychotropic medications due to side effects is only correlational not causational. For example, it could be possible that the shooters being in treatment and on these meds may have postponed the shooting. It’s possible that treatment and medication for many could be preventing vast numbers of potential shootings.
Denying research results of interventions that have worked in other countries is also ignorant. If tighter gun regulation in Australia has made a drastic decrease in school shootings then this needs to be considered in the US. But regulating in a way as to not violate the US constitutional rights is highly encouraged. Such as regulating gun purchase by requiring passing a psychological evaluation and gun safety class, as well as requiring proof of gun means restriction to those in home who have not passed this certification. This would also reduce the suicide rate which also a crisis in many areas. The middle path is the most reasonable solution. Being stuck in one side or the other is delaying resolving this serious issue. I am a Licensed Professional Counselor and would love the opportunity to help research or assist in any way to resolve this crisis.
There are good points raised here. Certainly a lack of religious faith and values have destroyed much of our societal moral fiber. But there is also a chance these school shootings have been orchestrated to bring down our country by the powers that be. Several school shooting witnesses mentioned seeing shooters that were professional and not the student accused. It’s not impossible to find an unstable teenager and use them to take the rap for the real killers. We need to look at the Feedral Reserve, IMF, the United Nations Agenda 21 etc etc and stand up and take our country back.
There is no relevant connection between religion and the mass school shootings. It’s pure ignorance to assume that a lack of religion in schools is the main cause of all the mass school shootings. Religion for all the good it may bring to others, ultimately remains completely insignificant in preventing future and all mass school shootings. “Anti-Christ school system[s],” are by no means the work of a satanic figure or the cause of mass school shootings. If anything, it’s the representation of the democracy of America as it allows students to choose their own religion. Furthermore, the first amendment clearly states,”Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Thus, by making the statement that Christianity should be enforced in all the schools of America is utterly unconstitutional and pure communism at its finest.
Personally, I don’t hold anything against religion as I believe that everyone has the right to choose their own system of moral beliefs. After all, religion is for the individuals whom have expressed full interest in participating in that religion and have not been forced to endure any particular religion.
The mass school shootings are not light matters that should be discussed with pure religion as its only solution as it requires safety measures and regulations to prevent any future shooters.There are several factors that cause mass school shootings to occur and to assume that it’s caused by a lack of religion in schools is absolutely foolish and ignorant.
Could I get the name of the author of this article? I’m working on a Works Cited Page
I will pass your email address on to the author.
Question for you. Was this child verbally and or physically abused by the students? Do the teachers teach and the building principal discipline, or does the administrator blame the teachers for disciplinary difficulties. How does the building principal in the elementary schools hanfle the bully child in class or on the playground, or on the way to school? To what degree is the youngster singled out on an hourly and day to day basis for teasing? To what degree are the churches involved or saying a sunday theological show is are they do to the exclusion of social work? Since just about everyone had absolute proof that the child had problems and yet nobody cared to show concern or even help out. Was it more fun to make a mockery of the youngster.? Are there consequences for all of this? Are teacher in a school there to protect only certain students and forget about the rest?
The spiritual dimension of men and nations and the reality of our Creator is shrugged aside in a world that has become more and more carnal or earthly minded. The aspect of sin or disobedience to God is laughable to so many who no longer have any respect for God or the Bible. But these truths are behind all the problems and the lack of God’s love in men is evident by their behavior. And why the callousness toward human life? Has the legalization of abortion and the daily killing of thousands hardened men and women’s conscience? I think it has. Murder of innocents is not even thought about by many Americans and certainly not our leaders who continue year after year in a state of denial. Meanwhile, in the future, when men will look back in history on this error of “enlightenment” will they judge how even the supposed barbarians of ancient times were not as callous toward life as people in the world during these times?
Douglas Roy, it’s really – let’s say funny – how you end up with your answer to the problem constructing the cause into religion. In Europe, for instance, where most of the schools are surely less religious than many of those in US, we don’t have such shootings, apart some really rare cases (once in years). We also don’t have mass shootings in general – except those rare cases. Keep thinking that prayer will save you from shootings, but be aware it surely didn’t helped those in Charleston three years ago. It’s as well curious that a nation such as Australia, which had a rate of gun killing comparable to US (which is 30 times higher than Europe, balanced on population), dropped to European rates by banning guns. Keep praying with a gun in your pocket, it’s surely what God asked you.
You need to understand that 1 in 4 Americans is on a psychiatric drug and that many of these drugs have known side effects including suicide, mania and homicide. The fact is that there are 36 documented incidents where the person committing a school shooting or a school related act of violence was either on a psychiatric drug or withdrawing from a psychiatric drug. These acts of violence were committed in the US, Japan and Finland and involved knives, machetes, swords and even a baseball bat. Guns are not the problem – not unless you intend to also outlaw knives, swords, machetes and baseball bats. Until the connection between psychiatric drugs and violence is confronted tragedies such as what recently happened in Florida will continue to happen.
The epidemic of drug abuse and use of behavioral drugs has an underlying cause, and that is the absence of God in people’s lives. It is the risen Christ who brings peace, love, and joy to men, women, and children as they repent and believe the gospel. Christianity is not a religion of do’s and don’t, trying to altar people’s behavior externally, but the living God entering in to a life, making them new inside and writing his laws upon their heart. Only are people are changed within and made good by Christ does the evil stop coming out of them. Modern churches that call themselves Christians don’t teach this or practice this, but only teach hypocrisy, which is trying to change yourself and conform without being changed within. As the Bible is taught in its simplicity and prayer is practiced, God will help our children and bless our schools again.
Even if the drugs that are involved are removed, the curse upon our schools that are anti-Christ at this moment, will not.
This article does not address the basis of the cause: anti-Christ school system. The lack of the fear of God in schools and in society as a result is from 56 years of a godless school system. Before ’63, prayer and Bible reading was allowed in all public schools. God was honored. The Bible was a holy book and reverence for God and his laws was far more commonplace. When pray was forbidden by the Supreme Court and the Bible treated worse than pornography, something terrible happened: blasphemy against God became the norm and secular humanism, or man as god was taught.
The consequences for this disrespect for God and our children was a wide open door to evil. Satan and his minions now control the public schools and “to steal, to kill, and to destroy” is commonplace in the halls. God’s protection on our children is gone in public school. You’ll note that in private Christian schools, you will find much different results, both academically and morally. While public schools are failing in so many aspects, those private schools are excelling and violence is almost unheard of, just like it used to be before God was kicked out of our public schools.
There are so many kids today that don’t believe in God that I don’t think that would even make a difference in this day in age. Whenever the Bible or God is brought up anywhere, I see eye rolls and negativity coming from the kids. They don’t believe in God and there is really no way to force them to believe. The more you force, the more they are to act out and the violence could get worse.
Who is talking about “forcing?” Even in early America up until ’62, there was no “forcing.” But let us talk about forcing lies upon the children. Darwinian Evolution is a lie forced upon children every day. Secular Humanism and Socialism’s goodness is a lie forced upon children every day. Acceptance of homosexuality is forced upon children and it is evil, as is transexuality or rejection of what God made you. Abortion is murder, yet this lie is imposed upon children daily as being acceptable. Relative thinking is a huge lie pushed down children’s throats, and there are many, many more. Christianity, however is the truth about God and His Son an the precepts of morality taught by Christ and within the Bible are consistently good and right. It is only because children are taught lies about God and morality that they “roll their eyes” about these things. That will change in time back to what it was before they removed God, prayer, and Bible reading from the schools and the blessing of God will come back and the curse be removed. But atheists as yourself, Tiffany, who reject the blessing and the curse will continue to see the curse and wonder why your secular humanism fails over and over again, as the slaughters continue.