Father's Day: Fatherlessness and Family Breakdown Blamed for Mass Shooting Increase in the US

As America celebrates Father's Day this June, a U.S. senator has asked a very poignant question about the impact of fatherlessness and family breakdown in pushing young men to turn to gun violence and instigate mass shootings.

Sen. Mike Lee of Utah wondered about how missing dads may be the reason for these grave incidents. He raised the question about fatherlessness during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on addressing the latest incidence of gun violence in the country.

The senator said that he's not saying single mothers aren't capable of raising better men but rather, he's calling out the absence of male role models or male mentors that the young people could look up to.

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Lee heads the Joint Economic Committee Republicans and one of his projects apparently offers clear evidence that social capital is in a deep decline in recent years. Lee cited that there is data showing that kids who are estranged from their fathers experience isolation and loneliness. There is also data revealing that a person with a good relationship with his dad is likely not capable of carrying out crimes, such as shooting someone.

"You do see disproportionately reflected in those involved in these kinds of events a detachment from a functioning family," Lee said, per Deseret News. "Maybe there's a father there but there's a lack of connection."

America's Weak Gun Control Laws

However, Lee's comments were met with divisiveness and have been debated before. In 2019, Kevin Shafer, Ph.D., published a report in the National Council on Family Relations showing no links to fatherlessness and mass shooters.

Snopes also did a fact-check on the assumption that more than two dozens of U.S. mass shootings prior to 2019 were due to fatherless homes. The investigative site found no conclusive data to prove the allegations true.

Sociology professor Philip N. Cohen told Deseret News that lawmakers who link fatherlessness to the mass shootings are "simply not serious" about enforcing strict gun laws that will put a stop to this violence once and for all. He called their ideas "ideological pandering."

Sen. Patrick Leahy said that putting the blame on fathers is like blaming the victims of gun violence and not the person who has actually walked into a gun store and purchased a gun made for the war zone and not for shooting kids in school.

Anti-gun proponents have pointed out that it's not missing dads or negative family dynamics that lead young men to access and collect guns. It is America's weak gun control laws.

Senate Judiciary Committee to Continue

The committee hearing on gun policies at the Senate will continue into the week with many options on the table including investments in school safety and mental health. Sen. Pat Toomey also thinks that background checks for those buying guns should be expanded for "red flags."

Toomey believes that these background checks are consistent with the stipulations in the Second Amendment, per Reuters. 

In the past, pro-gun advocates have criticized the red flags that are currently enforced in at least 19 states because it violates their Second Amendment Rights. This includes seizing the weapons of those found to have mental issues.

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