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Experts Say Mental Illness Isn't Main Driver Of Mass Shootings

PITTSBURGH (KDKA)-- Experts say President Donald Trump's focus on "mentally ill monsters" oversimplifies the role of mental illness in public mass shootings and downplays the ease with which Americans can get firearms.

Trump on Monday addressed weekend shootings in Texas and Ohio that killed 31 people. Trump said, "Mental illness and hatred pulls the trigger, not the gun."

In response, mental health experts are repeating what they've said after previous mass shootings: Most people with mental illness are not violent and that access to firearms is a big part of the problem.

But some found common ground with Trump in support of red flag laws that can be used to temporarily disarm people believed to be dangerous. Seventeen states and the District of Columbia have passed such laws.

(Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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