New York – John Oliver host of the Last Week Tonight Show has slammed on Republicans like Mike Huckabee, Ben Carson and Donald Trump who argue against gun control by bringing up the mental health problem in America.
Oliver has turned critical for GOP presidential 2016 candidates, whom in the wake of the shooting that killed 10 people in Roseberg, Oregon, have referred endless arguments about gun control and mental illness. He stated that politicians who mistakenly blame mental illness for mass shootings are either poorly informed or entirely heartless.
“The aftermath of a mass shooting might actually be the worst time to talk about mental health. Because for the record, the vast majority of mentally ill people are nonviolent,” he said in his show, calling out candidates like Ben Carson, Mike Huckabee and Donald Trump.
Even though mass murders are often blamed on mental illness, Oliver pointed out that the vast majority of people with mental health issues do not have a history of violence and are usually nicer than healthy people, with a vast majority of gun violence committed by non-mentally ill people.
In the years between 2001 and 2010, 120,000 gun-related killings occurred with less than 5 percent carried out by people with serious mental diseases, according to a research published in the American Journal of Public Health in February.
Another alarming statistic Oliver confronts is that jails are the largest mental health providers in the United States. 2 million inmates with mental illness go to state and local jails every year, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Treatment Advocacy Center. Aside from the criminal justice system, many young mentally ill people are placed in nursing homes as a means of treatment.
“Finding out jails are our largest provider of mental health treatment is like finding out Lil’ Wayne is our greatest source of sexual education. No, Darren. You can’t ‘flip it up and serve it like a spatula,’ where did you even learn that?”
Source: The Independent