Public attitudes about mental illness and support for gun policies affecting persons with mental illness following newtown

The horrific loss of life in Newtown, Connecticut in December 2012 has prompted a national conversation about guns and mental illness. As policy-makers consider options to reduce gun violence, it is critical to understand public attitudes about a range of violence prevention policies that would affect persons with mental illness, and to understand how Americans view mental illness. We fielded two national public opinion surveys about gun policies affecting persons with mental illness (N=2,703) and public attitudes about mental illness (N=1,530) using different respondents to avoid priming effects. Survey completion rates were 69% and 70% respectively. For the gun policy survey, we over-sampled both gun owners and non-gun owners living in households with guns.

Results from the gun policy survey indicated broad public support for various policies aimed at prohibiting persons with mental illness from having guns. Sixty percent of Americans supported increasing spending on mental health treatment as a strategy to reduce gun violence. Results of the mental illness survey indicated ambivalent attitudes about mental illness among the American public. Majorities of Americans were unwilling to have a person with a serious mental illness as a co-worker or neighbor, but 56% agreed that persons with mental illness can get well with treatment and 69% favored requiring insurance companies to offer benefits for mental health services that are equivalent to benefits for other medical services. It is worth thinking carefully about how to implement effective gun violence prevention measures without exacerbating stigma or discouraging treatment seeking.