After Shooting, Administration Reconsiders Ban On Medicaid Funding For Certain Mental Health Facilities
A law currently bars Medicaid from paying for treatment in mental health facilities with more than 16 beds. The administration has already opened the way for states to seek waivers from the policy in cases involving treatment for substance abuse, so mental health treatments could be next. Meanwhile, outlets look at what Congress can realistically do on gun control, what states are taking action, and the limits on gun research.
The Associated Press:
Administration Considers Expanding Mental Health Treatment
Amid the outcry over the Florida school shootings, the Trump administration says it is "actively exploring" ways to help states expand inpatient mental health treatment using Medicaid funds. President Donald Trump again brought up the issue of mental hospitals in a meeting with governors on Monday, invoking a time when states maintained facilities for mentally ill and developmentally disabled people. "In the old days, you would put him into a mental institution," Trump said, apparently referring to alleged shooter Nikolas Cruz, whose troubling behavior prompted people close to him to plead for help from authorities, without success. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 2/27)
Los Angeles Times:
What The Florida School Shooting Reveals About The Gaps In Our Mental Health System
After Adam Lanza burst into Sandy Hook Elementary School and gunned down 20 students and six educators, Connecticut’s Office of the Child Advocate tapped Julian Ford to help make sense of the shooting. A professor of psychiatry at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine and a practicing psychologist for 35 years, Ford served on an expert panel that conducted a detailed review of Lanza’s brief life to look for “any warning signs, red flags, or other lessons that could be learned.” The resulting report painted a picture of an odd, sensitive child with significant communication difficulties who became an anxious and withdrawn adolescent. ... At every turn, the report saw missed opportunities to treat Lanza’s multiple interpersonal and mental health difficulties ... and to draw him out of his profound isolation. (Healy, 2/26)
The Washington Post:
What Will Congress Realistically Do On Guns After The Florida Shooting?
Congress is back this week for the first time since the Parkland, Fla., high school massacre. Sustained national media attention on the shooting, emotional confrontations between politicians and survivors and their families, as well as a public-opinion shift in favor of stricter gun laws could spur Congress to do something to tighten access to guns. But don't expect Congress to do something big. The party that tends to support looser gun laws controls both chambers, and President Trump has appeared to double down on a pro-gun position to arm some teachers. (Phillips, 2/26)
The Wall Street Journal:
Background-Checks Bill Runs Into Hurdles In Congress
Legislation designed to improve background checks for gun purchases ran into new hurdles Monday, raising doubts about lawmakers’ ability to act in the wake of the Florida school shooting. The background-checks bill, sponsored by Sen. John Cornyn (R., Texas), would encourage states and federal agencies, including the military, to submit criminal-conviction records to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS. That step has broad bipartisan support. (Peterson and Bender, 2/26)
Politico:
Trump Says He Is 'Writing Out' Bump Stocks
President Donald Trump said Monday he is “writing out” so-called bump stocks, which allow semi-automatic weapons to mimic the firing speed of fully automatic weapons. “Bump stocks, we are writing that out. I am writing that out,” he said, addressing a group of state governors at the White House. “I don’t care if Congress does it or not, I’m writing it out myself." (Alexander, 2/26)
NPR:
Trump Echoes NRA More, After Bipartisan Tone Started The Gun Discussion
Lawmakers in Washington and Tallahassee have discussed a lot of ideas to reduce school shootings, but on the hardest questions — like what to do about guns — there is just no clear consensus. There are few signs of clarity from President Trump, who has taken a leading role in the debate without providing strong direction to solve the problem. (Liasson, 2/27)
Politico:
Trump Won’t Meet With AGs On Guns
President Donald Trump said he wanted to meet with state attorneys general to hear their ideas about gun laws — he brought in two anti-gun-regulation Republicans, and the White House says that’s enough. Trump won’t be meeting with a bipartisan group of AGs in Washington this week for the National Association of Attorneys General conference, as he did last year. (Dovere, 2/26)
The New York Times:
What Are States Doing About Gun Violence After The Florida Shooting?
It is not just in Florida, where the mass shooting at a high school is prompting lawmakers to take up gun control legislation. The same thing is happening across the country, from Washington to Vermont. What was one of the deadliest school shootings in modern American history prompted Gov. Gina Raimondo of Rhode Island to sign an executive order on Monday to establish a policy to take guns away from people who pose a danger to themselves or others. (Seelye and Bidgood, 2/26)
CNN:
Florida School Shooting: Florida Lawmakers Consider Gun Measures
Florida lawmakers are mulling a series of proposals in response to the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that triggered an outcry for accountability and reform. With the last day of the state's legislative session set for March 9, the clock is ticking for lawmakers amid pressure from young survivors of the shooting, who converged in Tallahassee Monday. Hundreds of Floridians, including Stoneman Douglas students, converged on the state Capitol Monday in an event called Rally in Tally calling for stronger gun laws. (Park and Grinberg, 2/27)
Stateline:
Limits On Federal Gun Research Spur States To Step In
As deaths from mass shootings have mounted across the United States, some states are moving to collect hard data to guide their decisions about guns — even as the federal government has retreated from such research in the face of pressure from pro-gun groups. The New Jersey Legislature, for example, is weighing a measure that would create a gun-violence research center at Rutgers University. The center would be modeled on the new Firearm Violence Prevention Research Center at the University of California at Davis, which launched last summer with $5 million in state money over five years. (Ollove, 2/27)
Modern Healthcare:
Tide May Be Turning To Free Up Funding To Study Gun Violence
Dr. Marian Betz, a University of Colorado emergency medicine researcher, is studying how to counsel suicidal adults and their families on the best way to store their guns and reduce easy access. The two-year, $800,000 study, funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, will evaluate whether such decision-support aids reduce suicide gun deaths. Such federal grants to study gun violence and how to reduce it have been rare since 1996 when a law was enacted barring the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from collecting data to advocate for gun control. Betz was able to get her grant only because in 2013, following the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting in Connecticut, President Barack Obama restarted limited federal funding for such research. (Meyer, 2/26)
The Washington Post:
How Laz Ojeda And First Responders May Have Saved The Life Of Parkland Student Madeleine Wilford
As Madeleine Wilford bled from multiple gunshot wounds outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the first responder struggling to keep her alive was faced with a choice. Coral Springs Fire Department Lt. Laz Ojeda could follow guidance to rush the high school student to a hospital 30 miles away, where policy dictates most child patients should go. The second option: Head for the closer, urgent-care-focused Broward Health North, about 12 miles from where a gunman had just killed 17 people on Valentine’s Day. (Horton, 2/26)
Health News Florida:
Experts: Parents Can Reassure Children After Mass Shootings
At a discussion on mental health following the recent shooting in South Florida, Kristen Hoffman, a psychologist at Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg, said kids older than six will have tough questions. ... She says parents should let children lead the conversation with their questions. They can start by asking kids what they know about the incident and what questions they have. (Ochoa, 2/27)
