The family of Kevin Neil from Northern California knew he was mentally ill, but had no idea that the man shooting, killing five people caught him by the arm.
«You know, we have heard from him: «I can’t take it anymore!» a thousand times, but how do you know whether or not he intends to do something?!», — weeping, asks Sheridan, sister arrow, who died from the bullets of the police during the detention.
She tells NBC that her brother made similar statements over 20 years, and relatives have come to believe: it’s just empty threats. Although they tried to persuade him to see a specialist, the man did not want to do that.
Dr. James Fox, an expert on the issue of violence with weapons, argues, however, that it is wrong to assume that mentally ill people without exception prone to such actions.
«In fact, there is no dependence,» says Fox. «It is convenient for us to think that these people are different from others, it is convenient to find a simple explanation, they say, they’re sick, case closed».
The expert adds that most of those who staged the mass shootings in America, there were no problems with the psyche. And most did not have a criminal record. According to Fox, it is more likely that a mentally ill person will commit suicide.
Dr. Jonathan Metzl, Director of the Center for medicine, health and society at Vanderbilt University, believes that it is easier to perceive unhealthy people as a «time bomb» than to change the laws about guns.
«Our view is that mentally ill people are more likely to become a mass arrows – delusion,» says Metzl.
According to the National center for health statistics in USA from 1999 to 2015 year, there were 198 760 murders from firearms. Less than one percent of committed people who have been diagnosed with any mental illness.
