DecodeDC

Actions

Fact-checking the link between mental illness and mass shootings

Posted
and last updated

Last Sunday, a gunman walked into a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, and opened fire on the congregation and killed more than two dozen people. The next day, President Donald Trump told reporters the mass shooting wasn’t a “guns situation,” and instead blamed it on “mental health.”

Politicians have linked mental illness and mass shootings again, and again, and again. In this week’s podcast, host Jimmy Williams talks to a journalist who looked into that link … and found that it doesn’t exist. For more on mental illness and violence, check out Olga Khazan’s story at The Atlantic.

,

Weather

Daily Forecast

View Hourly Forecast

Day

Conditions

HI / LO

Precip

Thursday

05/08/2025

Clear

-° / 63°

0%

Friday

05/09/2025

Clear

99° / 66°

0%

Saturday

05/10/2025

Partly Cloudy

102° / 67°

0%

Sunday

05/11/2025

Mostly Clear

93° / 57°

0%

Monday

05/12/2025

Mostly Cloudy

79° / 53°

24%

Tuesday

05/13/2025

Clear

72° / 53°

5%

Wednesday

05/14/2025

Mostly Clear

80° / 57°

0%

Thursday

05/15/2025

Mostly Clear

86° / 61°

0%