Republicans Push Unfounded Mental Health Claim for Gun Violence
- Only small minority of aggression is tied to mental illness
- Right-wing politicians seek to shift focus from gun policy
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Republican politicians from Senator Ted Cruz to Texas Governor Greg Abbott have been quick to blame mental illness following a deadly school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that killed 19 children and two teachers.
The problem with that thinking is that the evidence doesn’t support it -- even if common sense suggests a mass shooting, especially of children, is not the act of a person who is mentally well.