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���������� Note: As described below, the Coalition for Smart Safety comprised of mental health, civil and disability rights groups including ����������, released earlier this month calling for Congress’ pending anti-gun violence to steer clear of conflating violence with mental health conditions and unacceptably scapegoating our community for the tragic series of mass killings inflicted throughout our nation. Last week, our Coalition also issued an urging Congress to Replace proposed “School Hardening Measures’ in the bill with alternatives to exclusionary discipline and criminalization!

After  on a framework for the deal, negotiators trying to turn the agreement into legislative text left Washington over the weekend  on two outstanding elements: “red flag” laws and closing the so-called “boyfriend loophole” by expanding a ban on domestic abusers owning firearms. Though tensions ran high at the close of last week, a source close to the negotiations told ABC News on Sunday that discussions were back on track and that they were “moving in the right direction.”

But time is running out for quick action, according to The Senate is set to depart for a two-week recess at the close of business this week. Pushing a vote on the legislation until after the break threatens to slow momentum for a package already struggling to find a home in the Republican conference. A senior Democratic leadership aide told ABC that bipartisan negotiators must produce bill text by Tuesday, at the latest, to keep the upper chamber on track for a vote this week.

Coalition: Gun Violence Prevention Policy Should Not Equate Violence With MH
  Mental Health Weekly  June 18, 2022
Bottom Line…
The bipartisan Senate deal aimed at preventing gun violence includes funding for a national expansion of community mental health clinics.

Another spate of tragic mass shootings around the country including in Uvalde, Texas; Buffalo, ����������; and Tulsa, Oklahoma have sparked action by lawmakers to address gun prevention efforts and solutions to preventing further tragedies. They continue work on federal legislation, which includes background checks for gun buyers under age 21 and preventing gun sales to domestic violence offenders. Although the legislative framework includes more funding for mental health services, advocates want to make sure these efforts do not include scapegoating people with mental health disabilities.

The Coalition for Smart Safety, which includes mental health, civil rights, disability and education groups, on June 10 issued a addressed to Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Senate majority leader; House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader; and Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the House Republican leader.

The coalition’s tag line is Gun Violence is not a Mental Health Issue. In their statement, the coalition announced its appreciation of protecting public safety and the need to make lawmakers and policy makers understand that statements and legislation referencing people with mental illness as the cause of this country’s gun violence problem are counterproductive and stigmatizing.

“Our nation’s elected officials must not suggest that people with mental health disabilities should be the primary target of gun violence protection efforts,” they wrote. “The rhetoric from some that people with mental health disabilities, including those with perceived mental health disabilities, are inherently dangers, and that targeting them will solve our country’s gun violence problem is wrong.”

Advocates have pointed repeatedly to research that reveals people with disabilities are more likely to be the victims of gun violence and not the perpetrators. They pointed out in their statement that “mental health disabilities are not accurate predictors of violence — a fact recognized by the American Psychological Association, among others — and should not be treated as such.”

“We appreciate the focus on gun control,” Harvey Rosenthal, CEO of the ���������� Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services and a coalition member, told MHW. “We felt it could have gone much further.”

Of particular interest to advocates as outlined in the federal framework are red-flag laws or extreme risk protection orders (ERPOs), noted Rosenthal. These laws would provide states with funding to keep guns away from individuals considered by courts to be a danger to a community.

‘It’s important that red-flag laws are done properly, noted Rosenthal. “Red-flag orders are not specific to people with mental disorders,” he said. Rosenthal emphasized that such laws (should) work, but only if there is a focus on specific, current behaviors and evidence-based risk factors for violence. They should not target, single out, or discriminate against people with mental health conditions, he noted.

“Congress must only support those ERPOs that are based on an individual’s conduct, not whether that person has a mental health disability or mental health diagnosis,” the coalition wrote. “Basing a protection order on disability status or mental health diagnosis, and not conduct or behavior, violates a person’s civil rights.”

Rosenthal indicated that this way of thinking might be a “long shot,” but what if, say in one year or two, red-flag laws are tabulated and results indicate that the vast majority of people [targeted] do not have a mental illness. “That would be pretty strong evidence,” he said.

Discussions about crisis-related services are also critical, Rosenthal noted. “Just think about the trauma we’ve experienced as it relates to COVID, the war in Ukraine, political unrest and insurrection and economic turmoil,” he said. This is a time when the country’s stress level is higher than ever, he said.

Meanwhile, he said, “Hatred and racism are not mental illnesses.” He said we’re currently in an environment of false conflation with violence and mental illness. “We have to really play strong defense,” said Rosenthal. “It’s going to take a lot of work.”

Disability advocates
In releasing the Statement on Gun Violence Prevention Policy and Mental Health Disabilities, the coalition wants to ensure that the policies do not further marginalize people with mental health or other disabilities, said Cyrus Huncharek, senior public policy analyst at the National Disability Rights Network (NDRN). NDRN and the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law came together to form the Coalition for Smart Safety following incidents of mass violence in 2019.

Following the tragedies, former President Trump made a number of comments that were concerning to the field, said Huncharek, including calling for a return of mental health institutions (see MHW, Aug. 28, 2019). “He blamed responsibility of the mass shootings on a mental illness problem,” Huncharek told MHW. This coalition came together to push back against this government stance, he said. “No data suggest these attacks are perpetuated largely by people with mental illness,” said Huncharek.

“There is a lot in the framework that gives me more concern that it does hope,” said Huncharek. There is an emphasis on funding school safety or school security, but the terms are quite broad, he said. “There is no detail on what that looks like,” he said. “Would it involve law enforcement, metal detectors or exclusionary discipline? These are practices that have not been shown to keep kids safe and can possibly cause harm to students with disabilities and students of color,” he said.

Huncharek said NDRN is encouraged about the continued work on gun violence prevention efforts. “Anytime the Senate can come together in a bipartisan manner to address [a problem] as serious as this one, [it’s a] good thing that should be applauded and connected,” he said.

Huncharek added, “We believe that any proposed solution to the gun violence problem
that is gripping our nation cannot come at the expense of eroding civil rights.”

Recognizing the risk
Katherine C. Cowan, director of communications for the National Association of School Psychologists, said her group wanted to join the coalition and other groups who recognize that there is a risk and proclivity in some areas to conflate violence and mental illness.

“As an association, we want to help policymakers to focus on what the real solutions are to violence,” she told MHW. “People with mental illness are more likely to be victims of violence.”

Cowan noted that there is not one significant solution to preventing gun violence, which is a complex problem. Different strategies are needed, she stated. Wellness resources should be available, as well as interventions for people who might be in crisis, said Cowan.

Focusing on key issues such as access to guns is important, she said. Sound-bite solutions to this problem will not work, Cowan added. “We’re hopeful that something will come out of this effort,” said Cowan. “If a bill passes, we are prepared to take that law and work with our allies, partners and groups to implement safe interventions for kids in our community.”