The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Trump mulls plan to monitor mentally ill
The White House is considering a controversial proposal to study whether mass shootings could be prevented by monitoring mentally ill people for small changes that might foretell violence.
What’s the proposal?
Former NBC Chairman Bob Wright, a longtime friend and associate of President Donald Trump’s, has briefed the president and several lawmakers on a proposal to create a new research agency called HARPA to come up with new ways to address mental health and stopping mass shootings.
Advisers to Wright quickly pulled together a three-page proposal — called SAFEHOME for Stopping Aberrant Fatal Events by Helping Overcome Mental Extremes — which calls for exploring whether technology like phones and smart watches can be used to predict when mentally ill people are about to turn violent.
Trump’s stance
In recent weeks, Trump has been unclear on where he stands. After back-to-back mass shootings last month in Texas and Ohio, the president said he was open to enhanced background checks but then later seemed to backtrack and echo the position of the powerful National Rifle Association.
A few Republicans and Democrats, including Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, have held conversations with Trump over the August recess on a potential compromise. So far, those negotiations have not yielded any agreement.
Why it matters
Beyond the civil liberty concerns about monitoring people through their gadgets, there’s the problem of false positives, said Marisa Randazzo, former chief research psychologist for the U.S. Secret Service.
Even if the monitoring technology could be developed, such a program would likely flag hundreds of thousands more possible suspects than actual shooters. Most concerning, Randazzo said, is that the proposal is based on the premise that mental illness is directly linked to mass shootings.
“Everything we know from research tells us it’s a weak link at best,” she said.
Studies of mass shooters have found that only a quarter or fewer have diagnosed mental illness. Researchers have noted other factors that are more significant commonalities in mass shooters: a strong sense of grievance, desire for infamy, copycat study of other shooters, past domestic violence, narcissism and access to firearms.