Using research evidence to reframe the policy debate around mental illness and guns: Process and recommendations

Recent mass shootings have prompted a national dialogue around mental illness and gun policy. To advance anevidence-informedpolicy agendaonthis controversial issue, we formed a consortium of national gun violence prevention and mental health experts. The consortium agreed on a guiding principle for future policy recommendations: restricting firearm access on the basis of certain dangerous behaviors is supported by the evidence; restricting access on the basis of mental illness diagnoses is not. We describe the group's process and recommendations.