Trump Promises To Tackle ‘Difficult Issue Of Mental Health’ Following Shooting, But Stays Quiet On Guns
As national focus turns to mental health after the mass shooting in Florida, advocates warn against making assumptions about violence and mental health. “It feels like mental illness is being used as a political football to deflect attention away from some other important issues," said Ron Honberg, senior policy adviser at the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
The New York Times:
After Florida Shooting, Trump Focuses On Mental Health Over Guns
President Trump announced on Thursday that he would visit Parkland, Fla., where a gunman killed 17 people this week in the deadliest school shooting in years, and would work with state and local leaders “to help secure our schools, and tackle the difficult issue of mental health. ”The president tweeted his condolences to the families of the victims in the hours after the shooting on Wednesday, and as images of terrified students sprinting frantically away from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School dominated the news, Mr. Trump’s aides urged him to make a public statement. But he opted not to say anything more until Thursday, when he delivered a subdued seven-minute speech at the White House. (Rogers, 2/15)
Politico:
Advocates Warn Against Linking Mass Shootings, Mental Illness After Trump Tweet
Advocates cautioned Thursday against making assumptions about the links between mental health issues and violence after President Donald Trump said the suspect in a mass shooting at a Florida high school was "mentally disturbed." “So many signs that the Florida shooter was mentally disturbed, even expelled from school for bad and erratic behavior,” Trump tweeted Thursday. In televised remarks on the shooting, which resulted in the deaths of 17 people, he said his administration was tackling "the difficult issue of mental health." (Alexander, 2/15)
The Associated Press:
Budget Undercuts Trump Focus On Mental Health, School Safety
President Donald Trump is calling for a focus on mental health and school safety in response to shootings like the one that took 17 lives in Florida, but his budget would cut funding in both areas. Trump's latest budget would slash the major source of public funds for mental health treatment, the Medicaid program serving more than 70 million low-income and disabled people. The budget also calls for a 36 percent cut to an Education Department grant program that supports safer schools, reducing it by $25 million from the current level of $67.5 million. (Alonso-Zaldivar and Danilova, 2/16)
The Hill:
Trump Health Chief Supports CDC Research On Gun Violence
Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar said Thursday that he would allow his department to conduct research into the causes of gun violence, a major Democratic priority. Democrats on Thursday pushed for lifting a provision that restricts the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from conducting research into gun violence as part of their response to the mass shooting at a Florida school on Wednesday. (Sullivan, 2/15)
Politico:
Trump’s New Health Chief Backs CDC Research On Gun Violence
Azar told an Energy and Commerce subcommittee that a provision passed two decades ago limiting the CDC's work on gun violence only prevents it from taking an advocacy position — not from doing research. "My understanding is that the rider does not in any way impede our ability to conduct our research mission," he said. "We're in the science business and the evidence-generating business, and so I will have our agency certainly working in this field, as they do across the broad spectrum of disease control and prevention." (Cancryn, 2/15)
The Wall Street Journal:
Missed Warnings In The Florida School Shooting
The teenager accused of killing 17 people at a Florida high school had alarmed authorities, neighbors and classmates, who recounted such behavior as obsessing over weapons, shooting small animals with a pellet gun and harassing neighbors’ pets. (Kamp, Calvert, Campo-Flores and de Avila, 2/15)
San Francisco Chronicle:
They’ve Prepared In Drills. They’ve Heard Prayers. Now Students Want Real Solutions To Gun Violence
While there are few polls detailing young people’s views on gun violence, the limited data suggest a nuanced view that includes support for some toughening of regulations. In a 2013 survey of 941 high school students across the country conducted by Hamilton College of Clinton, N.Y., a large majority of students, 85 percent, supported stricter laws on background checks for gun purchases. (Tucker, 2/15)