Arbury 1

Kieran Arbury

11/14/17

Selena Wolf Berkley

ENG 101-005

Refuting Letter

To the editors, Max Fisher and Josh Keller, of the article What Explains U.S. Mass

Shootings? International Comparisons Suggest an Answer I would like to introduce myself. My

name is Kieran Arbury, I am writing you this letter today to talk to you about some points you

had made in your article that I would like to refute. Before I do so, I would like to state that I

agree with you on the fact that the United States has had a very steady increase in mass

shootings, but I disagree with your reasoning for the causes of these mass shootings and I will

now explain why.

The first argument you made that that I want to refute is when you said and I quote, The

only variable that can explain the high rate of mass shootings in America is its astronomical

number of guns. I think the fact that the United States has such a large number of firearms is a

problem, but I do not see it as the cause of mass shootings. I think that the biggest factor that

causes mass shootings is mental illness. I understand you disagree with this idea because you

stated in your article, If mental health made the difference, then data would show that

Americans have more mental health problems than do people in other countries with fewer mass

shootings. You continue this quote by saying, But the mental health care spending rate in the

United States, the number of mental health professionals per capita and the rate of severe mental

disorders are all in line with those of other wealthy countries. Even if our country has the same
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number of mental health professional that does not mean that we have the same rate of severe

mental disorders as other countries.. There is no t set number for people who suffer from mental

illness, I say this because not everyone gets diagnosed. Some people develop mental illnesses

later in life. While others will have had a mental illness for years, but have failed to be treated for

this issue. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, otherwise known as NIMH,

estimates that about 40 percent of adults who suffer from schizophrenia and 51 percent of adults

who suffer from bipolar disorder will not receive any treatment in a one-year time span. The

NIMH shows other statistics on the issue, stating that there is an approximate number of 2.6

million adults who suffer with schizophrenia and 5.1 million adults who suffer from bipolar

disorder. This data shows that there are approximately 3.5 million people in the United States

who suffer from either schizophrenia or bipolar disorder and have d failed to be diagnosed. With

this data we can see that even with the large number of mental health professionals per capita

and the amount of funds that go into mental health care that we are not able to diagnose every

person who suffers from a mental illness in the United States. Meaning that, compared to other

countries, the United States could have a larger number of people who are mentally ill, than in

other countries, who are then obtaining guns and causing mass shootings.

The second argument that I would like to make is about how you correlated the large

number of guns in countries to the number of mass shootings they have. In this part of the article

you use a chart with statistics of countries that shows how many guns are owned per one hundred

thousand people and the number of mass shootings per one hundred thousand people. In this

statistic its shows one country, Yemen, has a higher number of guns owned and mass shootings

per one hundred thousand people. I want to argue these statistics because you failed to mention

very important information about why there are some many guns owned by citizens and reasons
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that could have caused these mass shootings. For example, the reasons for so many guns being

own per one hundred thousand people in Yemen could be because of the fact they have been

involved in a very gruesome and horrific war, wherethat thousands of innocent s civiliansize

have died in, and that has been going on since 2015 (BBC News). An article from aljazeera.com

states that the United Nations humanitarian aid official in Yemen has determined that the civilian

death toll, in this two-year war, has reach 10,000. Also, stating that there was a total of 40,000

other civilians wounded. It has been proven that people who suffer from a very traumatic event,

like a two-year civil war killing and wounding thousands of people, could cause a mental

disorder called post-traumatic stress disorder. An overview of post-traumatic stress disorder,

otherwise known as PTSD, by the Mayo Clinic states that symptoms of PTSD would be

flashbacks, nightmares, severe anxiety, and uncontrollable thoughts about the event. These

symptoms have caused some people who suffer from PTSD to commit very violent actions in the

past. An article from apadivisions.org states that forty percent of veterans that suffer from PTSD

are noted to have committed some sort of violent criminal action since they had completed their

military services. Meaning that 120,000 violent criminal acts would have been committed by

veterans who suffer from PTSD. Now I understand that some of the civilians in Yemen are not

veterans of their civil war, but innocent civilians who were involved in this war and survived

have survived a very traumatic experience. Meaning that some citizens of Yemen could be

suffering from PTSD and commit a violent criminal action, like a mass shooting. You are stating

that this country is suffering from so many mass shootings, like our country is, because of all of

the guns owned by the people. But I think it is a matter of what people are going though t in their

countries. The United States has a very large military with many soldiers;, isnt it possible these
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soldiers could have suffered from a traumatic experience causing them to develop a mental

illness that later on in life causes them to commit some sort of violent action?

The third argument that I would like to make is about your points trying to compare our

countrysies mass shootings to other countries. You state that from a study done in 2016, which

was just a book called Mass Shootings: Media, Myths, Realties, that from 2000 to 2014 the n

United States death rate due to mass shootings was at 1.5 per million people. Then comparing it

to Switzerlands 1.7 and Finlands 3.4 death rate per million people. You also compared the

United States 113 mass shootings, from 2000 to 2014, to Switzerlands one, that killed fourteen

people, and Finlands two, that killed eighteen people. I understand that you are using these

statics to prove your point that since our country has such a larger number of guns compared to

most countries that it is what is causing these routinely mass shootings in our country. But you

did not mention things like how our populations compare to other counties, as well as if we have

the same type of gun restrictions as other countries. Also, in some cases you are disapproving

your own point. For example, you stated that Switzerland has the second highest gun ownership

rate of any developed country, about half that of the United States. If this statement is true then

shouldnt Switzerland be suffering from routinely mass shootings like the United States does?

Because your point of this entire article is that the large number of guns in the United States is

what is causing these mass shootings, but this isnt the case with every country that has a large

number of guns owned by the countries citizens. I think that the issue is that the United States

has very loose gun control laws compared to other states. A great example would be Australia,

NBC News wrote an article talking about the aftermath of the Port Arthur massacre, a mass

shooting that killed 35 people and wounded 23, and how it created stricter gun control laws in

Australia. These stricter gun control laws made itn illegal to own any type of automatic/semi-
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automatic rifles and pump-action shotguns. It also made it increasingly difficult to purchase and

even sell guns without the proper license and following the proper procedures to purchase a gun.

While other countries are creating stricter gun control laws to keep their people safe from mass

shootings, the United States is suffering from multiple mass shootings every year and has yet to

make any type of change to our gun control laws. Showing that it is not the number of guns in

the United States causing mass shootings, but multiple other factors. Including how easily

accessible fire arms are in our country.

In conclusion, yes, the United States is suffering from an increasing rate of mass

shootings, but we should not be blaming this issue on the number of guns in our country. We

should focus our attention on other factors, like a mental disorder or environmental factors

causing traumatic mental distress, that are causing people to go out andcan commit such a

violent criminal action, like a mental disorder or environmental factors causing traumatic mental

distress. We also need to address As well as our gun control laws so that we can not only get

unnecessary guns , such as automatic/semi-automatic and shotguns, out of our society,

automatic/semi-automatic and shotguns, but make it more difficult to obtain guns in our country.

The only So that people that should have guns in our country are people that can be trusted with

a gun.
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Work Cited Page

50% Of Mentally Iill Untreated. Mental Illness Policy Org,

mentalillnesspolicy.org/consequences/percentage-mentally-ill-untreated.html.

Yemen Crisis: Who Is Fighting Whom? BBC News, BBC, 20 Nov. 2017, www.bbc.com/news/world-

middle-east-29319423.

untreated.htmlhttp://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/01/death-toll-yemen-conflict-passes-10000-

170117040849576.html

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and

Research, 25 Oct. 2017, www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/post-traumatic-stress-

disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20355967. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-

29319423

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/01/death-toll-yemen-conflict-passes-10000-

170117040849576.html

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/post-traumatic-stress-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-

20355967
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Grimson, Matthew. Port Arthur Massacre: The Shooting Spree That Changed Australia's Gun Laws.

NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, 28 Apr. 2016, www.nbcnews.com/news/world/port-arthur-

massacre-shooting-spree-changed-australia-gun-laws-n396476.

http://www.apadivisions.org/division-19/publications/newsletters/military/2014/04/ptsd.aspx

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/port-arthur-massacre-shooting-spree-changed-australia-

gun-laws-n396476