‘Psychiatric Drugs’ for Depression – Not Guns – Are to Blame for Mass Shootings Says Tea Party Governor

Antidepressants That ‘Have Very Severe Warnings Associated With Them Related to Depression and Suicidal Thoughts’ Are to Blame Says Matt Bevin

Kentucky Tea Party Republican Governor Matt Bevin is claiming the cause of America’s gun violence and mass shooting pandemic is antidepressants. In what is being billed as a “business meeting” between Democratic and Republican governors and President Trump, Governor Bevin on Monday shared his beliefs on the gun crisis.

Bevin, who has been strongly supported by the NRA, told his fellow governors and President Trump the way to start fixing the gun violence problem is to “seize the bully pulpits that we have to talk abut the culture in this society.”

“I would challenge those in the media who would want to mock and ridicule this,” Bevin continued, saying that America was built on the “foundational principles” of treating “people the way you’d want to be treated, you respect human life, you respect the dignity of women, and children, and people who we have increasingly degraded in our society.”

While all those ideals are important, in no way was America founded on those principles. America was founded through the genocide of Native Americans, while women were not allowed to vote, and children were allowed to work in factories at very early ages. 

“This culture of death is becoming pervasive and if it’s not addressed by all the imperfect people in this room with a sense of purpose and sense of aspiration, I think we are going to see a continued trajectory that is not good,” Bevin said, as Talking Points Memo reports.

“There have always been guns in homes and fewer rules,” he continued, as the president shook his head in agreement. “It isn’t to say that these rules and restrictions are necessarily bad, but what has changed is what we do or don’t do as it relates to acknowledging the value and dignity of every human life,” Bevin insisted.

“When you couple that with the number of psychiatric drugs that are increasingly systemic and have very severe warnings associated with them related to depression and suicidal thoughts, you put all these things in a mess and no one among us is bold enough or willing to step up and challenge of the fact that this is a problem. This is why it goes unchecked.”

Pat Robertson in November wrongly blamed the Texas church massacre on anti-depressants, the same argument that Bevin is making. Unfortunately, neither has done their homework.

“A study published in 2012 that looked at 14 years of data from the Netherlands found a significant negative association between violence and antidepressant use—that is, that when people took prescribed antidepressants, violence tended to decrease,” Newsweek reports.

Talking Points Memo notes that just last month, “after an armed student attacked a school in his state and killed two and injured 18, Bevin blamed violence in movies, video games and music lyrics for desensitizing young people to violence.”

Immediately after Bevin spoke President Trump also blamed mass shootings on violence in movies and video games.

Hat tip: Talking Points Memo