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: Trump’s claim that “they”— the sickos — specifically target areas that prohibit guns in order to carry out shootings is a common talking point among many Republicans and gun advocates. Mental-health reform, not gun reform, they say, is the way to solve America’s growing mass shooting crisis. Trump’s claim also seems to rest on two big myths: that mental illness causes violence or crime, and that the presence of mental health can predict violence. It has become standard practice to raise the question of the link between mental health and violence after a mass shooting. This makes sense: Few people can fathom a stable, sane individual committing such a horrid crime. “ No matter what you do, guns, no guns, it doesn’t matter,” Trump said in August. “ You have people that are mentally ill and they’re going to come through the cracks and they’re going to do things that people will not even believe are possible.” Indeed, many mass shooters, most of whom are young men, are later determined to have exhibited signs of mental disorders.