# What are other countries doing right to prevent mass shootings? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 6, 2017, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-other-countries-doing-right-to-prevent-mass-shootings/800900 "2017-11-06T17:46:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2017, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-other-countries-doing-right-to-prevent-mass-shootings/800900/121 "2017-11-10T05:17:15Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > Would you agree however, that that legislation has had a chilling effect on research? I mean there has been virtually no studies on gun violence in the last 20 years and even Jay Dickey himself, original sponsor of the amendment, thinks it should be overturned. This opinion is supported by 141 medical groups including the American Medical Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. > > Plus of course the CDC has essentially zero funds to do this kind of research. Every request for more funds gets blocked by Congress. > > This is not “as it should be”. Possibly. Yes, it is as it should be. The CDC is there to control diseases, not act a a political platform for the opinions of some of it’s members. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2017, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-other-countries-doing-right-to-prevent-mass-shootings/800900/122 "2017-11-10T05:29:53Z")
> [@up\_the\_junction](#): > > If ever two issues were linked those must surely be mental health provision and gun deaths. Except that the vast vast majority of people with mental health problems don’t shoot anyone. It is as obvious as – as the most obvious thing you can possibly think of – that the major reason there is a huge chasm between US gun violence of every kind from toddlers shooting their siblings to White Loners ™, and the rest of the world, is the sheer number of guns. I remember recently reading that US citizens, with around 4% of the world’s population, own around 65% of the world’s guns. Why wouldn’t there be all kinds of problems, Sherlock? ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2017, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-other-countries-doing-right-to-prevent-mass-shootings/800900/123 "2017-11-10T06:22:28Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Possibly. > > Yes, it is as it should be. The CDC is there to control diseases, not act a a political platform for the opinions of some of it’s members. Actually it’s goal is to _“protect public health and safety through the control and prevention of disease, injury, and disability”_. Prohibiting, and barring the funding, of open-ended studies _is_ making it a political platform. If there’s a way that thousands of americans are dying or being injured each year, then the CDC should study it. And I know what you are going to say “Open-ended studies are fine, it’s advocating one side that’s the problem!” except the broad design of the amendment basically has stopped all studies, period. Plus of course congress has blocked funding time after time. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2017, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-other-countries-doing-right-to-prevent-mass-shootings/800900/124 "2017-11-10T16:41:00Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > Actually it’s goal is to _“protect public health and safety through the control and prevention of disease, injury, and disability”_. > > Prohibiting, and barring the funding, of open-ended studies _is_ making it a political platform. If there’s a way that thousands of americans are dying or being injured each year, then the CDC should study it. > > And I know what you are going to say “Open-ended studies are fine, it’s advocating one side that’s the problem!” except the broad design of the amendment basically has stopped all studies, period. Plus of course congress has blocked funding time after time. It is the CDCs own fault. If they hadnt done such a blatantly bogus study, with the result decided upon in advance and so very biased, they might have been able to do more. But they cant be trusted to do a legit scientific study. ---
**Author:** ![rat\_avatar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rat_avatar/32/255_2.png) [@rat\_avatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rat_avatar)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2017, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-other-countries-doing-right-to-prevent-mass-shootings/800900/125 "2017-11-11T00:46:14Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > Except that the vast vast majority of people with mental health problems don’t shoot anyone. > > It is as obvious as – as the most obvious thing you can possibly think of – that the major reason there is a huge chasm between US gun violence of every kind from toddlers shooting their siblings to White Loners ™, and the rest of the world, is the sheer number of guns. I remember recently reading that US citizens, with around 4% of the world’s population, own around 65% of the world’s guns. Why wouldn’t there be all kinds of problems, Sherlock? If it is so obvious it should be trivial to demonstrate a linear relationship between gun ownership and deaths. But it is also intellectually dishonest to ignore the reality that just as the vast vast majority of people with mental health problems don’t shoot anyone; that the vast vast majority of gun owners don’t shoot anyone. Many of the challenges around mental health relate to discrimination, stigma and shame. If I could control government policy that would be one of the areas that I focused immediate attention. But in the US cultural biases limit much movement on that topic today. As an example on how extreme the impact this is on say suicide rates consider the examples of transgender individuals suicide rate. [ > [@](#): > > Discrimination and negative attitudes toward transgender individuals lead to much higher suicide rates among this population (41% vs. national average of 2%; Haas, Rodgers, & Herman, 2014), and fears for their safety (Perry & Dyck, 2014). ]([http://scholarworks.uni.edu/rcapitol/2017/all/9/](http://scholarworks.uni.edu/rcapitol/2017/all/9/)) Another Cite: > [@](#): > > A lower than average prevalence of lifetime suicide > attempts (33%) was found among respondents who > said their family relationships had remained strong after > coming out (see Table 17). In contrast, the prevalence of > suicide attempts was elevated among respondents who > reported experiencing rejection, disruption, or abuse > by family members or close friends because of antitransgender > bias. > **[Suicide Thoughts and Attempts Among Transgender Adults](https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/suicidality-transgender-adults/)** This also mirrors the gender differences in suicides, > [@](#): > > Use of mental health resources may be a significant contributor to the gender difference in suicide rates in the US. Studies have shown that females are 13–21% more likely than males to receive a psychiatric affective diagnosis. > > 72–89% of females who committed suicide had contact with a mental health professional at some point in their life and 41–58% of males who committed suicide had contact with a mental health professional. > **[Risk factors for male and female suicide decedents ages 15–64 in the United...](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00127-003-0656-x)** > > Background: Few controlled studies have examined possible gender differences in risk factors for suicide. This paper examined the associations of certain risk factors with suicide among males and females aged 15–64, and the variation in the... Note how the rate differs so greatly and how “stable” women numbers are. Unless you can explain how women somehow have different levels with a similar amount of exposure the subject is not nearly as cut and dry as you claim. [![](https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/66/wr/figures/m6630qsf.gif) ](https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/66/wr/figures/m6630qsf.gif) The other issue that is important to consider is the impact of the war on drugs. Drug-related homicides account for as much as 50 percent depending on the year. But that is another subject that seems to be off limits, but it does demonstrate that at least in the US, prohibition efforts typically don’t limit access but have huge negative effects. The same thing happened during Prohibition. To argue that firearms are the primary reason murders and suicides is sophistry. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-other-countries-doing-right-to-prevent-mass-shootings/800900.md?page=6)