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Trump scapegoated the mentally ill and suggested that they are involuntarily confined instead of changing gun laws.

Trump scapegoats the mentally ill for gun violence

Video of Trump:

Trump would rather lock up mentally ill people than change gun laws. pic.twitter.com/aaWNCHByQv — Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) August 5, 2019

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Trump said, “We must reform our mental health laws to better identify mentally disturbed individuals who may commit acts of violence and make sure those people not only get treatment but, when necessary, involuntary confinement. Mental illness and hatred pulls the trigger, not the gun. Fourth, we must make sure that those judged to pose a grave risk to public safety do not have access to firearms and that if they do, those firearms can be taken through rapid due process. That is why I have called for red-flag laws, also known as extreme risk protection orders. Today I’m also directing the department of justice to propose legislation ensuring that those who commit hate crimes and mass murders face the death penalty and that this capital punishment be delivered quickly, decisively, and without years of needless delay. These are just a few of the areas of cooperation that we can pursue.”

Trump would rather lock people up than change the gun laws

The problem with Trump’s plan to involuntarily commit mentally ill people is that not every mass shooter has a documented medical record of mental illness, and the vast majority of people who have a mental illness aren’t mass shooters. The easier and smarter way to deal with the problem is to limit the ease and ability of anybody with a mental illness to purchase a gun. Trump reversed a rule by the Obama administration that prevented people who receive Social Security disability benefits for a mental illness from owning guns. The problem isn’t the mental illness. It is that a person with a mental illness can easily get a weapon that’s sole purpose is to kill other human beings.

The gun laws are the problem, not Americans who are living with a mental illness.

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