On December 14, 2012 in Newtown, Connecticut, Adam Lanza shot and killed twenty children, six staff members, and his own mother; this happened because Adam Lanza was a man suffering from a psychiatric illness and owning numerous firearms. If Adam Lanza had not possessed this weapon, twenty-seven lives could have been saved. There are criminal background checks for gun ownership, but the government is forgetting one crucial aspect: medical background checks. Even though there are laws prohibiting people with mental illness from carrying a gun, the government has no way of verifying whether they suffer from an illness because it does not check their medical history for this purpose. Mass shootings perpetrated by people with mental illness are a growing occurrence in the United States and must be prevented in order to save the lives of American citizens. People with psychiatric histories should not be allowed to own guns because there is an increased risk of violence, people with psychiatric illnesses are not mentally stable, and the United States does not conduct controls or to appropriate background checks for firearms licenses. A mental illness is a medical condition that affects a person's mood, thinking, feelings, and decision-making and is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. There are many types of mental illnesses, but the two most correlated with violence are schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Schizophrenia is a mental illness that causes a person to not think clearly, hear voices, convey emotions to certain events, and cannot decipher whether they are real or not. Bipolar disorder is a mental illness that causes a person to experience severe mood swings, ranging from extremely depressed to middle of paper...... the chemicals in their brain are manipulated by the illness. Because the chemicals in their brains are constantly manipulated, they are never sane. People who are not mentally stable are unable to make good decisions due to the chemical imbalance in their brain; this is why firearms should be kept out of the hands of the mentally ill. The government must take the lead and enshrine in law that when a person attempts to acquire a firearm, the applicant must also undergo a criminal and medical background check. People with mental illness should not own firearms because there is an increased risk of violence, people with mental illness are not mentally stable, and the United States government does not conduct gun checks and verification. appropriate background that is necessary to own a firearm. gun.