Paul Ryan Calls for Better 'Mental Illness Laws' After San Bernardino Shooting

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) made a statement Thursday morning about Wednesday’s tragic events in San Bernardino, California, at the Inland Disability Center that left 14 dead and at least 17 wounded.

“This is just a horrible event. My stomach turns like any American when they see this kind of violence,” Ryan said on “CBS This Morning.” “You can’t help but watch this on TV and yell at the TV, ‘How can we prevent this from happening?’”

Ryan acknowledged that too many unknowns still exist to speculate about the origins of Wednesday’s events, and then said a common theme in “any of these mass shootings” has been mental illness.

“We need to fix our mental illness laws, our policies. They’re outdated,” he said. “And that is something we are working on right now.”

Ryan is a supporter of the “Murphy bill,” or the “Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act,” a mental health reform bill introduced by Rep. Tim Murphy. The bill recently advanced after going through the The House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee.

“One of the common themes here, this is why we’re really serious about our mental health legislation, is that people are getting guns who are mentally unstable, who shouldn’t be getting guns, and this is a gap in our law that we feel needs to be filled,” Ryan said.

What’s your take on Ryan’s statements? 

More on the San Bernardino shooting:
– Live updates
– The Shooting at Inland Regional Center: A Parent’s Thoughts
– How to Help Anxious Kids When Bad Things Happen
– Politicians Tweet Responses to San Bernardino Shooting
– Video From Inside Building at San Bernardino Shooting