Mental Health Provisions of the Bipartisan Gun Control Deal

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A bipartisan group of negotiators in the U.S. Senate announced this week that they had reached a deal on a framework for legislation meant to address public mass shootings. The proposal includes increased money to encourage states to enact "red-flag" laws to restrict gun access for individuals threatening violence, expands background checks for gun purchases for 18 to 21-year-olds, and increases penalties for illegal "straw purchases" where an individual bypasses a background check by using a proxy buyer.

With respect to mental health, the framework also calls for increased funding for school-based mental health resources, further investments in suicide prevention, expansion of telehealth access to behavioral health for children and young adults, and a nationwide rollout of the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) model.

The CCBHC model requires organizations to provide mental health care, substance use treatment, and additional services via a Medicaid grant program to help cover the actual cost of care and care coordination. Additional services include providing 24-hour crisis care and comprehensive outpatient services.

Although the framework shows promise for improving the worsening mental health of American youth, other key items supported by mental health advocates, such as reforms relating to reimbursement parity and the regulation of medication-assisted treatment after COVID-era regulations lapse, are not included.

Mental illness does not equal gun violence.

Of course, increased funding for mental health programs is sorely needed. But there is also concern among mental health advocates about reinforcing the false conflation of gun violence and mental illness. Although the popular belief is that those with mental illness are more likely to commit acts of violence, data shows that people with mental illness are more likely to be a victim of violent crime than the perpetrator.

Following recent mass shootings, including the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, a coalition of 60 national advocacy groups and professional associations condemned the conflation of gun violence with mental health conditions. The letter states:

Attempts to connect mental illness to mass shootings are a distraction that inflicts enormous damage by taking attention from solutions that could actually prevent such events. This perpetuates a false narrative that encourages stigmatization of and discrimination against the millions of Americans living with mental health conditions who are more likely to be victims of violence than perpetrators of it.

The letter goes on to note, "While mental health conditions are common in countries across the globe, the United States is the only country where mass shootings have become disturbingly commonplace," and calls for policymakers to work on a bipartisan basis to pass "meaningful solutions that promote gun safety in all of our communities."

Will a bill pass before July Fourth?

Before breaking for the weekend, negotiators had gotten stuck on language for provisions relating to federal grants for state enforcement of red-flag laws and for closing the "boyfriend loophole" that allows convicted domestic abusers to buy guns if they aren't married to their partner.

In spite of these sticking points, negotiators have expressed hope of passing a bill by their July Fourth recess.