And it's just - we see that time and time again, and nothing gets solved. You know, we're telling everybody, like, no, you're not going to take our guns. Chris McNutt with Texas Gun Rights says gun reform won't solve mass shootings.ĬHRIS MCNUTT: They want to take the guns. For gun rights groups, the focus on more mental health services instead of gun restrictions is welcome. A spokesman for Governor Abbott says he's in budget talks to raise mental health spending by about $2 billion. Texas lawmakers are trying to increase some mental health funding. And nearly 800,000 adult Texans with a mental illness are uninsured as the state has not expanded Medicaid. There are rural areas without enough providers. LOVE: Texas ranked last in access to mental health care in Mental Health America's most recent report. She worries about linking mental health struggles and mass shootings.ĪLISON MOHR BOLEWARE: The last thing we want is to increase stigma so that people are unwilling to get help that they need. She's with the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health. In fact, most are victims of violence, says Allison Moore Boulware. But it's uncommon for people with mental health struggles to turn so violent. The Pentagon confirmed that the gunman had been discharged from the Army for mental health reasons in 2008.
LOVE: Golden says if mental health was really the main cause, lawmakers should strengthen background checks and pass red flag laws. NICOLE GOLDEN: For those who know that they're not going to vote with us for political reasons on sensible gun safety measures are trying to distract and divert the conversation. Blaming mental health is a scapegoat, says Nicole Golden with the gun reform group Texas Gun Sense. LOVE: That was Governor Greg Abbott on Fox News, U.S, Representative Keith Self on CNN and Texas State Representative Jeff Leach on the House floor after the shooting. JEFF LEACH: I'm not sure there are any bills in front of us this morning this session that could have prevented this.
KEITH SELF: We have people, though, with mental health that we're not taking care of. GREG ABBOTT: We are working to address that anger and violence by going to its root cause, which is addressing the mental health problems behind it. From member station KERA in Dallas, Caroline Love reports that wherever they land on the issue, Texas politicians are not rushing to act.ĬAROLINE LOVE, BYLINE: A day after a heavily armed gunman randomly shot 15 people, killing eight, at an outlet mall, Republican politicians in Texas were quick to blame mental health, not guns. After a gunman killed eight people at a mall in Allen, Texas, earlier this month, the public debate over what to do about it quickly settled into two familiar corners - strengthen gun laws or improve mental health support.
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