Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s comments after this week's deadly shooting in Minneapolis have sparked a fierce backlash from Minnesota's senior senator. After the shooting at Annunciation Catholic School, the health secretary said he is investigating whether antidepressants and other psychiatric drugs might help explain violence in the US, reports USA Today. The remarks angered Democratic Sen. Tina Smith, who accused Kennedy of deflecting from what she sees as the real issue: guns.
- "I dare you to go to Annunciation School and tell our grieving community, in effect, guns don't kill kids, antidepressants do," Smith wrote on social media. "Just shut up. Stop peddling bulls---. You should be fired."
- Kennedy, for his part, told Fox News that Americans have had guns "forever," adding: "Something changed, and it dramatically changed human behavior, and one of the culprits we need to examine is whether the fact that we are the most over-medicated nation in the world."
- More specifically, he said that "we're launching studies on the potential contribution of some of the [selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor] drugs, and some of the other psychiatric drugs that might be contributing to violence."
The suspected shooter had written about depression and violent thoughts, but it's unclear whether 23-year-old Robin Westman, a trans woman, was taking any psychiatric medication. Axios notes that a sweeping study in 2019 out of Stanford concluded that such meds were safe and effective for children with depression and anxiety. The university's Keith Humphreys tells the outlet that he, too, sees Kennedy's remarks as a distraction. "Anybody can have these problems, but in most countries, they couldn't get their hands on a bunch of firearms," says the professor of psychiatry.
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
