Texas' grim choice: guns or mental health

Following a shooting at a shopping mall on May 6 in which eight people were killed, the Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, said the way to prevent such killings was to tackle mental health issues. Yet the state's mental health services have been severely rundown since he became governor eight years ago.

According to Mental Health America, for the overall ranking of mental health, Texas' national rank went from 27th to 44th based on its report of 2022 State of Mental Health in America, which compared figures of 2017-18 with those of 2018-19.

When it comes to mental health services for young people, Texas' rank went from 30th place to 41st because more children were not covered for such services. And more than 40 percent of Texas adults did not see a doctor for cognitive disability because for them it cost too much.