Donald Trump proposes more psychiatric centres instead of gun control to stem rising tide of violence
- The US president said it was a ‘terrible thing’ that people with mental illness were ‘just allowed to go onto the streets’ after hospitals were closed
- Many psychiatric institutions in the US were closed beginning in the 1950s amid reports of inhumane treatment, abuse scandals and other factors
The president offered the suggestion in an exchange with reporters in Morristown, New Jersey, shortly before leaving for a campaign rally in New Hampshire on Thursday. He said it was a “terrible thing for our country” that people with mental illness were “just allowed to go onto the streets” after some psychiatric hospitals were closed.
“We’re looking at the whole gun situation,” Trump said in response to a question about the gun control debate. “I do want people to remember the words ‘mental illness.’ These people are mentally ill … I think we have to start building institutions again because, you know, if you look at the ‘60s and ‘70s, so many of these institutions were closed.”
“A lot of our conversation has to do with the fact that we have to open up institutions; we can’t let these people be on the streets,” he added.
Many psychiatric institutions were closed beginning in the 1950s amid reports of inhumane treatment, patient-abuse scandals, changing attitudes toward mental health care and the development of drugs to treat mental illness.
While Trump on Thursday revived the debate over whether to isolate the mentally ill in long-term care facilities, Democrats have argued in recent weeks that, by repeatedly blaming mental illness for gun violence, Trump is stigmatising those with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, severe depression or other serious conditions.
