On Sunday, June 12, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators led by Senators Chris Murphy (D-CT) and John Cornyn (R-TX) announced an agreement on a framework to reduce gun violence that has the potential to break the decades-long impasse on passing gun legislation. The details provided were sparse, providing one-sentence descriptions on nine elements (see attached). The specific framework language included here appears in italics. Legislative language is expected before the July 4 recess. Funding levels were not included in the statement.
Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a package of gun bills (Protecting Our Kids Act) that goes further than what could pass the Senate, therefore the stakes are especially high for a successful outcome in the Senate negotiations. Both President Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made statements of support with the release of the Senate framework. A statement by Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell (R-KY), was silent on his views on specifics but the overall tone of the remarks was mildly encouraging.
Both the short statement that was included in the framework and the specific recommendations reflect the priorities and concerns of the negotiators—10 Democratic Senators and 10 Republican. The statement says: “Most importantly, our plan saves lives while also protecting constitutional rights of law-abiding Americans.” The gun restrictions are tempered by Second Amendment concerns but still could make a difference in reducing gun violence. For example, the proposal provides resources for states and tribes to implement “red flag” laws (also called “extreme protection orders”) but does not establish a federal mandate. Currently, 19 states and the District of Columbia have passed “red flag” laws.
Here is the text of the “red flag” provision:
Support for State Crisis Intervention Orders
- Provides resources to states and tribes to create and administer laws that help ensure deadly weapons are kept out of the hands of individuals whom a court has determined to be a significant danger to themselves or others, consistent with state and federal due process and constitutional protections.
Mental Health, Suicide Prevention and Community Services, including crisis and trauma intervention and School-based Mental Health
Of all the provisions, the ones that address mental health should resonate particularly with those in the trauma-prevention advocacy community. The second provision in the Senate framework reads:
Investment in Children and Family Mental Health Services
- National expansion of community behavioral health center model; major investments to increase access to mental health and suicide prevention programs; and other support services available in the community, including crisis and trauma intervention and recovery.
The expansion of the community behavioral health center model has been the years-long effort of two of the senators in the group—Senators Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)—with support from the National Council for Mental Wellbeing.
The other two provisions elevate the need for prevention strategies and the importance of addressing trauma. One is major investments to increase access to mental health and suicide prevention programs; and other is support services available in the community, including crisis and trauma intervention and recovery. Essays on PACEsConnection.com by Jane Stevens about how to prevent gun violence stress the need to address trauma as a primary prevention strategy. Also, research that addresses the root causes of violence provide compelling data to support heeding the warning signs and intervening early.
The work of researchers Jillian Peterson, Ph.D., and James Densley, Ph.D. in their book and research, both called “The Violence Project: How to Stop a Mass Shooting Epidemic,” has been featured in recent gun violence coverage. On the PBS News Hour on June 13, Dr. Jillian Peterson, co-founder and president of The Violence Project, said their research identified a common pathway to violence—seen over and over again. "It often started with kind of serious violence in childhood, abuse, neglect. Different forms of trauma kind of laid the foundation,” she noted. The isolation, depression, and hopelessness can lead to crisis, suicidal thoughts and action where self-hatred is turned outward, according to Peterson. She said mass shooters are not outsiders—they are kids who go to that school, they are neighbors and co-workers—and because of that, prevention is in some ways easier. A shift in thinking is required, she said; that means we need to notice changes in behavior, have systems in place to report these changes, and ensure that the response is one of care and concern, rather than punishment or pushing the person out, plus we need to connect people with resources.
Similar points are made in an opinion essay “The Most Dangerous Years” by Rachel Louise Snyder published in the New York Times on June 12. Snyder widely cites the Peterson and Densley research in her piece and agrees with their recommendations to create crisis intervention teams and suicide prevention and crisis response coalitions. She supports their suggestion that “…all students in this country have at least one person, just one adult, they can talk with.”
In her essay “There’s no mystery to what happened in Uvalde; there were many opportunities to prevent it” in PACEs Connection, Jane Stevens cautions over-reliance on “one caring adult” saying “…this “works only if all of our systems—education, faith-based, justice, etc.—educate their staff about childhood adversity and implement trauma- and resilience-informed practices to create an environment where most adults are a “caring adult”.” Otherwise, she says, it is unlikely that a troubled child will have a caring adult or in the case of a child with overwhelming childhood adversity, the necessity of several caring adults.
The Senate provisions (under Investment in Children and Family Mental Health Services and Funding for School-Based Mental Health and Supportive Services) are compatible with compelling research on violence prevention and trauma-informed strategies based in the community and in schools. Here is the framework language related to school-based mental health.
- Invests in programs to expand mental health and supportive services in schools, including: early identification and intervention programs and school based mental health and wrap-around services.
Conclusion
While there are signs of hope that the impasse on gun legislation can be broken with this framework, obstacles remain once the details of legislation language are known. Controversies will emerge over approach and costs and the legislative clock will be ticking (Congress will recess for several weeks around July 4) and all the while the memories of the last mass shooting will wane. Still, the sparse words of the framework provide a starting point for real progress to be made to reduce trauma and down the road to prevent the soul-crushing impact of gun violence.
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