Argumentative Essay On Gun Violence

Take a look around - it seems as if the flag of the United States is flown at half mast often in recent years. Most of the time, the reason for lowering the flag is from a tragic event that occurred: like a shooting. Many of these devastating events could have been prevented if the person responsible could have gotten the proper psychiatric health help. Sadly, a large amount of people suffer from a mental illness. Emotional disorders deserve recognition to receive the proper amount of funding and support. To encourage more funding to support mental disorder research, the negative stereotypes of mental illness need to be eliminated. Many people do not understand what a mental illness is. In a survey, 80% of people agreed that most people

A recent incident, the shooting in a Texas church, killed twenty six people. According to President Trump, the gunman, Devin P. Kelly, had a mental health problem (Mukherjee). A tragedy like this makes people talk about gun violence and control but the underlying issue is actually an extremely mentally sick person who used a weapon in a violent manner because of an untreated or undiagnosed mental illness. Many people are uneducated about the various problems the brain can cause when a mental illness is present. Until a well publicized tragedy occurs, mental illness is frequently associated only with poor, homeless, people who can not afford treatment. While most people with mental illness do not commit violent acts towards others, most violent acts are committed by someone with mental illness of some type. Many people with mental illness in fact are not violent towards others, but more likely to harm themselves through some type of self harm

Clair County with a designated behavioral health unit (Mirly). A behavioral health unit is a specific part of the hospital where patients receive evaluation, medication, counseling, and other therapies specifically designed to treat mental illness. Patients from the entire southern Illinois area and even Missouri receive treatment through these services, There are also fewer and fewer licensed psychiatrist to provide psychiatric treatment. A new patient can have a two month or greater wait to be evaluated and treated by a psychiatrist (Mirly). That might mean a person could wait that entire time without proper medication and treatment. There are also community support programs available to assist people with mental illness, but most of the funding for these programs comes from the government. Recent budget cuts have caused these agencies to eliminate staff and reduce available programs. This has left less trained staff to take care of mentally ill patients. Increases in government funded programs would allow more people to be treated in less time and with a greater