Earlier this month, a UCLA Ph.D. student shot his former professor and himself in a murder-suicide at the university’s campus.

Following the shooting, the WSU Police issued a statement urging students to be aware of their surroundings in order to be prepared in case of an active shooter scenario on campus.

The statement gained steam when, just 12 days after the UCLA shooting, another gunman opened fire in a packed nightclub in Orlando, killing 49 people.

It’s clear we have a problem in this country, but is our tendency to focus on a cure rather than prevention keeping us from solving it?

Chris Barry, a WSU associate professor of psychology, wrote in an email that more attention needs to be focused on the collection of factors that put an individual at risk for violence.

“In the overall scheme of violence, aggression and antisocial behavior, mass-shootings are relatively rare,” Barry wrote. “It’s hard to pinpoint specific factors that would tell us, with confidence, that a person is at risk for committing a mass shooting unless they were to tell us of plans to do so ahead of time.”

Barry listed six behaviors that can be calling-cards for future violence, en-masse or otherwise:

• Persistent child/adolescent aggression
• Early onset of conduct problems
• Poor impulse control
• Lack of empathy for others
• Lack of remorse for wrongdoing
• Modeling of aggression from family members and peers

A national poll released by the American Psychiatric Association in May found that 77 percent of Americans believe mental health reform is important in addressing gun violence.

However, it’s important to note that individuals suffering from mental illness are three times more likely to be victims of crime than individuals who do not have a mental illness, according to a study by the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London. 

This means that people with mental illnesses are much more likely to be victims rather than perpetrators of violence.

Senators Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., introduced the Mental Health Reform Act of 2016 in March of this year.

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), the act will promote early intervention in the treatment of mental illness, improve integration of mental and physical healthcare and improve program coordination across federal agencies that serve people with mental illnesses.

With risk factors for violence often present at a young age, earlier intervention in the treatment of mental illness can help us prevent societal challenges such as homelessness, substance abuse and suicide rates in addition to gun violence.

If you or someone you know needs help accessing mental health care or dealing with a crisis, contact WSU Counseling Services at 335-4511 during business hours and at 335-2159 after hours, including weekends and holidays.

Though gun violence is mostly an American problem, compared to other developed nations, assault and other non-lethal violence is still present in countries with low homicide rates.

According to the 2011 Global Study on Homicide by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, violent crimes have increased in Western and Northern European nations since the early 1990s despite these areas having some of the lowest homicide rates in the world.

In England and Wales, hospital admissions for victims of assault by a knife or sharp instrument increased by 34 percent between 2002 and 2007, according to the World Health Organization (WHO)’s report on preventing violence among young people in Europe.

The WHO linked the lower homicide rates to better health services, which help reduce the lethality of injuries from assault.

We may not be able to stop violence altogether, but mental health reform, stricter background checks and routine verification of safe weapons storage can help lower rates of homicide.

In the meantime, browsing WSU’s campus safety plan, being aware of exits in places like a mall or movie theater, and memorizing your work place’s evacuation policy and procedures can help you be prepared for an active shooter scenario.

“Physically and psychologically, we are not at our best in terms of making rational decisions when under duress,” Barry wrote. “It’s good to have information and plans from law enforcement experts, but we shouldn’t let the fear of possible dangers paralyze us.”

Alysen Boston is a senior communication major from Baltimore, Maryland. She can be contacted at 335-2290 or by [email protected]. The opinions expressed in this column are not necessarily those of the staff of The Daily Evergreen or those of The Office of Student Media.