Title: Donald Trump Discusses Mental Illness, Gun Violence at GOP debate - The Atlantic
Headings: Donald Trump and 'The Sickos'
Politics
Donald Trump and 'The Sickos'

Content: Donald Trump Discusses Mental Illness, Gun Violence at GOP debate - The Atlantic
Politics
Donald Trump and 'The Sickos'
The presidential candidate’s views on mental health and gun violence aren’t uncommon, but they’re based on two big myths. Marina Koren
October 29, 2015
Rick Wilking / Reuters
Donald Trump has done it again. At the third Republican presidential debate Wednesday night, Trump managed to once more offend a large swath of people in one breath. “I feel that the gun-free zones and, you know, when you say that, that’s target practice for the sickos and for the mentally ill,” he told CNBC moderators. “ They look around for gun-free zones.” Trump isn’t alone in this belief. In a Washington Post-ABC News poll released this week, 63 percent of participants—and 82 percent of Republicans—said mass shootings reflect problems in identifying and treating people with mental-health problems, while just 23 percent said they reflected inadequate gun-control laws. But mental-health advocates, individuals who suffer from mental-health issues, and the people who support them likely bristled at his remarks. In the United States, one in four adults, or approximately 61.5 million Americans, experiences some form of mental illness in a given year, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, a nonprofit advocacy group. The mental-health community has long tried to rid the lexicon of language that, while once common, it now considers a driver of stigma against mental illness.