Are Psychiatric Drugs the Real Culprit Behind Mass Shootings?

By Ready to Fire News On Feb 26, 2018

Cases of mass shootings across the nation seem to be on the rise with the latest one being the Florida school shooting on 14th February. As usual, the resulting uproar has been focused on guns and all other factors have been ignored.

However, in reality, the problem is deeper than gun possession. Although mass shooters often have guns with them when performing their heinous acts, another thing that they hardly lack is psychiatric drugs in their blood. When you compare the two, you can definitely tell that the problem begins with the use of psychiatric drugs which give the shooters “suicidal or homicidal ideas”, prompting them to take action and commit such atrocities.

A good example is the latest case in Florida where the shooter’s aunt mentioned that he was on medication for emotional issues. Such cases have become far too common. Every time there is a mass shooting, investigations or information from a relative reveals that the mass murderer was a troubled individual under the influence of psychiatric medications — those little known but powerful mind-altering substances with sometimes adverse side effects such as suicidal or homicidal thoughts.

The blame, however, always lies with the use of guns in these killings. Why? Because the media and politicians are more interested in covering gun stories than legal drugs. With guns, politicians can use the issue to advance their political mileage and earn votes while the media can get more views on their stories. Furthermore, pharmaceutical companies spend more dollars than any other industry in influencing politicians to support their agendas.

If there was more journalistic interest in cases where a shooter was said to be under psychiatric medication, perhaps the real reason behind their action would be ascertained. Here are a few cases where mass shooters were said or found to be using psychiatric drugs.

Exactly how many mass shooters have been under the influence of these products? We may never really know, but here is a list of confirmed users thusfar:

• Erick Harris, who killed 13 and wounded 24 others in 1999, was taking Luvox at the time.

• Patrick Purdy killed 5 kids and wounded 30 others in 1989. He had been using Amitriptyline which is an antidepressant, as well as Thorazine which is an antipsychotic drug.

• Kip Kinkel murdered his parents, two classmates, and wounded 22 others back in 1998. He was using Prozac and Ritalin.

• Aaron Ray opened fire and killed one student while two others were injured at the Seattle Pacific University in 2014. He had been using Risperdal and Prozac.

• Aaron Alexis killed 12 people in a cafeteria before shooting himself in 2013. He had been prescribed Trazodone, a generic antidepressant.

• Jeff Weise shot and killed 9 people in 2005 before shooting himself. He had been using Prozac.

• Mass killer Adam Lanza, who murdered 26 at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2013 was said to be on medication by a family friend Louise Tambascio.

These are just a few of the many mass shooting cases where the culprit was using psychiatric drugs. These substances are certainly not the main reason behind mass shootings, but it is evident that they contribute heavily to abnormal reactions in their user’s behavior; and guns aren’t responsible.

Examples of Paxil’s (one of the many psychiatric drugs available) known adverse reactions according to FDA include anxiety, confusion, insomnia, amnesia, mania, depression, agitation, paranoia, delirium, hostility, psychosis, hallucinations, abnormal thinking, lack of emotion, and more.

~ Ready to Fire News