ThinkProgress: During Gun Violence Hearing, Senator Warns Against Stigmatizing Mental Illness

During a Senate hearing on gun violence prevention on Wednesday, Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) issued a stark warning: don’t stigmatize Americans suffering from mental illnesses.

Since December’s mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, lawmakers have been engaged in a debate over the best ways to curb gun violence. Much of that debate has centered on America’s expensive and inaccessible mental health care system, since several perpetrators of mass shootings in recent years have also had mental illnesses. But the conversation has veered wildly off-course — stigmatizing Americans suffering from mental disorders as dangerous, and turning them into the scapegoats for gun violence, as the NRA’s Wayne LaPierre did during his bizarre press conference in reaction to the tragedy at Sandy Hook.

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© U.S. Senator Al Franken, Minnesota -- Official Campaign Website, 2013. |
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