Vice President JD Vance stated Thursday that it is time to begin asking robust questions on what’s on the coronary heart of mass shootings and appeared to attach the violence to what he known as a “psychological well being disaster.”
“We actually do have, I feel, a psychological well being disaster in america of America. We take far more psychiatric remedy than every other nation on Earth, and I feel it’s time for us to begin asking some very onerous questions in regards to the root causes of this violence,” Vance stated at an occasion in Wisconsin in his first public remarks about Wednesday’s church taking pictures in neighboring Minnesota, during which two kids had been killed.
In an interview Thursday on Fox Information, Vance known as the shooter a “mentally deranged human being.”
Earlier within the day, in a separate Fox Information interview, Well being and Human Providers Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stated he has the Nationwide Institutes of Well being wanting into hyperlinks between violence and antidepressants which can be repeatedly prescribed to tens of millions of individuals in america.
“We’re launching research on the potential contribution of among the SSRI medicine and among the different psychiatric medicine that is likely to be contributing to violence,” Kennedy stated.
He did not supply specifics in regards to the analysis, when and the way it might be carried out or whether or not outcomes could be peer-reviewed. The Division of Well being and Human Providers did not instantly reply to a request for remark Thursday night time.
SSRI is brief for a category of medicine known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. The antidepressants improve ranges of serotonin, a chemical messenger within the mind that may enhance temper. Widespread variations embody Lexapro, Prozac and Zoloft, which deal with circumstances like melancholy, nervousness and obsessive-compulsive dysfunction.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara stated Thursday on MSNBC that he does not have any details about any earlier psychological sickness of the shooter, recognized as Robin Westman, who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. O’Hara added that Westman, 23, was by no means confined for psychological sickness.
There’s additionally no indication from authorities that the shooter took SSRIs or every other associated remedy.
Blaming antidepressants for mass shootings has develop into a typical tactic for some conservatives. In 2022, after the varsity taking pictures in Uvalde, Texas, and the taking pictures on the July Fourth parade in Highland Park, Illinois, some had been fast to take a position with out proof about antidepressant use by the shooters.
A 2019 research discovered that almost all college shooters hadn’t taken psychotropic medicines and that after they did, “no direct or causal affiliation was discovered” with the shootings.
Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., ripped Kennedy for his feedback a day after the taking pictures at Annunciation Catholic College’s church.
“I dare you to go to Annunciation College and inform our grieving group, in impact, weapons don’t kill children, antidepressants do. Simply shut up. Cease peddling bulls—,” she wrote on X. “You have to be fired.”
Kennedy is a longtime critic of SSRIs, and he has spoken out about what he sees as overuse and overprescribing of the medicine. He has additionally beforehand blamed the medicine for college shootings, regardless of proof on the contrary.
Psychological well being advocacy teams have additionally spoken out towards Kennedy’s criticisms of SSRIs, saying that the medicine may be lifesaving by mitigating ideas of suicide and that they will help folks with extreme melancholy or nervousness operate each day and keep social relationships.
“I do know the secretary of well being and human companies this morning stated that HHS is investigating, maybe, hyperlinks between a few of these medicine and these pharmaceuticals that a few of these minors could also be taking and a rise in violence,” White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated at Thursday’s briefing.
“And clearly now we have psychological well being issues on this nation that this administration and Secretary Kennedy will proceed to talk out about and the work that we’re doing to unravel it,” she added.
President Donald Trump hasn’t made any public remarks in regards to the Minneapolis taking pictures. He posted about it on social media Wednesday, calling it a “horrible state of affairs,” and requested that folks “be part of me in praying for everybody concerned!”
He additionally known as Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to supply his condolences and ordered that flags be flown at half-staff.
Democrats have lengthy argued that easy accessibility to weapons and lax gun legal guidelines in some states have fueled the epidemic of mass shootings. Trump through the years has centered on psychological well being points and college safety in speaking about gun violence.
