A December 2023 commentary in the American Journal of Medicine begins with this sobering sentence: "In 2021, the United States (US) experienced 47,286 deaths from gun violence, the highest ever.” The article goes on to quote Texas governor Greg Abbott’s assessment of this tragic loss of life from gun violence: “People want a quick solution. The long-term solution here is to address the mental health crisis.”

Once again, the high rates of gun violence in the U.S. are being blamed on mental illness. While mental illness is indeed a major factor for firearm-related suicides, some continue to advance the notion that it is also a factor for firearm-related homicides. To examine whether this is a plausible theory, the authors of the American Journal of Medicine piece compared the rates of gun homicides, gun ownership, and mental illness in the US to those in Australia and the United Kingdom (UK).

Here are the rates these authors report:

Note that the rates of mental illness are very........

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