GOP SHOULDN’T SINGLE OUT MENTAL HEALTH FOR ANSWERS TO GUN VIOLENCE

Looking at the much-anticipated Aug 21. special session called by Gov. Bill Lee through an optimist’s lens has been quite the task.

Legislators will look at 18 provisions Lee has proposed and seek to protect Tennesseans from gun violence and strengthen the state’s public safety infrastructure.

But some are not too confident.

On Aug. 10, Lieutenant Gov. Randy McNally spoke about the provision that would authorize judges to keep firearms away from people deemed dangerous to themselves or others. He didn’t seem confident that the measure will even be mentioned in the session.

“I continue to support it, but it won’t be an item that’s discussed in special session,” McNally said last week. “I think the votes aren’t there. I think there needs to be a little more education done, a little more, you know, in-depth study.”

Numerous lawmakers have come out and said they will not support anything that would be considered a red flag law.

Well, unfortunately for McNally and the largely GOP opposition to this bill, there are studies documenting effectiveness of order of protection laws in reducing incidents of gun violence, including suicide which accounts for more than half of all gun deaths.

Nineteen states have a gun order of protection, or an extreme risk law as it’s called in other states. Research from Everytown for Gun Safety says that “suicide is averted for every 10 extreme risk orders.”

MENTAL HEALTH HAS BEEN ADDRESSED

What’s most concerning about how this special session is shaping up is how the focus seems to have turned from gun laws and safety to mental health. Now, giving an audience to the need for improved mental health resources is not a problem. GOP lawmakers are emphasizing mental health in this special session when, frankly, Lee has already been investing in those type of resources.

For example, during this year’s State of the State address, Lee spoke on the progress his administration made on mental health in schools.

“We increased funding, boosted mental health programs, and established a grant to place more than 200 School Resource Officers across the state,” Lee said.

Also, all 95 counties in Tennessee currently have at least one full-time school-based behavioral health liaison who provides individual counseling sessions, conducts mental health assessments and makes referrals for services and supports, among other roles.

Alisa LaPolt, policy and advocacy director for the National Alliance on Mental Illness Tennessee, says getting treatment for mental health is critical for K-12 students.

From the first time children experience mental illness, they don’t get support until 10 years later, she said Monday in an interview.

Sexton and other GOP members give the impression that mental health should be their focus, suggesting that we readjust the conversation. LaPolt is familiar with this tactic.

“Whenever we have an act of mass violence like [the Covenant School shooting] mental health is unfortunately drawn into the conversation as a cause and that’s unfortunate and inaccurate,” LaPolt said.

There are other risk factors besides mental illness that are involved with acts of mass violence:

› Unaddressed childhood trauma

› Adverse childhood experiences

› Alcohol and drug abuse

› History of violence

“We see mental illness being blamed when mental illness is actually a culmination of these risk factors that have been around through the individual’s life,” she said.

Creating policies and interventions that pertain directly to these risk factors can get to the deep issues that underpin gun violence.

But it doesn’t mean that there isn’t work to be done in the mental health sector. Lee will look to address these issues and more during the special session. He can’t do it alone.

LEGISLATORS SHOULD PRIORITIZE GUN SAFETY

The truth of the matter is when we pass laws that ensure gun safety, we give a sense of relief to the mother who left her children at home. The trip to the grocery store won’t feel like the last. You will worry less about leaving a concert. We can’t see these issues as disconnected. Seventy-two percent of registered voters support a red flag law to prevent gun-related violence, according to a Vanderbilt Unversity poll in April.

The responsibility to protect people from gun violence shouldn’t be left to those who play the same, partisan, lopsided song.

“The person kills people, the gun doesn’t kill people, the person who pulls the trigger, they shoot, they aim, it’s the person who kills the person,” Sexton said Aug 10. “The gun’s not tried, the person is tried.”

Has he tried saying this to the parents of the three children who were killed at Covenant School?

Yes, guns are not the only thing lawmakers must consider when looking at this problem, but singling out one aspect over others keeps us from seeing the bigger picture.

Come Aug. 21, let’s hope the General Assembly gets a better angle and passes meaningful legislation that deals directly with guns.