NRA-funded Mike Rogers baselessly blames school shootings on mental health crisis

A day after a Sept. 4 school shooting in Winder, Georgia, left two students and two teachers dead, Michigan Republican U.S. Senate nominee Mike Rogers was asked by right-wing radio host Justin Barclay about the attack. Rather than address gun violence, the former U.S. representative answered by baselessly blaming mental illness and social media.

Rogers, who is endorsed by and has received campaign funding from the National Rifle Association, is running in the November election for retiring Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow’s open seat. His Democratic opponent, U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, “has supported no-brainer gun safety measures to keep our communities safe, including safe storage of firearms, universal background checks, red flag laws, and the assault weapons ban,” according to her campaign website.

In the Sept. 5 interview, first flagged by the progressive research group American Bridge 21st Century, Rogers made no mention of guns and said: “Clearly we have a mental health crisis in America, and I think it is spurred along by social media. I mean, when you think about the sheer level of these younger teenagers being radicalized to the point where they think it’s OK to go in and kill people, we’ve got a problem.” He added, “Obviously, this is awful and our hearts and prayers go out to the families that are trying to live through this and the kids that had to suffer through it now obviously have issues they’re going to have to deal with, coming back to school and doing other things. But we have this rising problem in schools.” 

A video compilation posted on social media by American Bridge shows Rogers making similar comments after previous school shootings and mass gun violence, blaming drugs and mental illness and asserting that gun safety proposals would not work. 

In December 2012, the New York Times reported that, following a mass shooting at a Newtown, Connecticut, elementary school, Rogers dismissed gun restrictions and said, “What the more realistic discussion is, ‘How do we target people with mental illness who use firearms?’ The article’s author, Weill Cornell Medical College professor of psychiatry Richard A. Friedman, said mental illness was a “misguided focus,” writing: “There is overwhelming epidemiological evidence that the vast majority of people with psychiatric disorders do not commit violent acts. Only about 4 percent of violence in the United States can be attributed to people with mental illness. This does not mean that mental illness is not a risk factor for violence. It is, but the risk is actually small.”

According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, between 3%-5% of violent acts are carried out by people with serious mental illnesses. People living with serious mental illness are more than 10 times as likely to be victims of violent crime as people who aren’t.

Research has shown that misinformation such as Rogers spreads can be harmful. A 2013 study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry found that news stories after mass shootings increased stigma against people with mental illness.

In his 14 years in the House of Representatives, Rogers repeatedly voted to weaken gun laws and earned A ratings from the NRA.

Slotkin voted for the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act of 2021, which expanded background checks for gun purchasers under age 21 and offered federal funding to help states implement red flag laws, used to temporarily disarm those judged an imminent danger to themselves or others. She has been endorsed by anti-gun violence organizations Giffords and Brady.

“I’m so sorry to see yet more students terrorized by gun violence – this time just days after returning from summer break to a place that should be their sanctuary. It’s the same violence we saw here in Michigan at Oxford High School and Michigan State University, and this community will experience the same, long-term trauma,” Slotkin posted on social media after the shooting in Winder. “Gun violence is the #1 killer of American children under 21. In our communities, in our schools, by suicide and by accident. That is not a political statement. And one day we will acknowledge that the first responsibility of any leader is to protect the next generation.”