Try this on for size: Recommended reading for Jason Aldean

 

Graph:  Everytown Research

Headline:  Bakersfield Now, 5/26/2022

Tuesday, the nation was rocked again by another mass school shooting. While seemingly random, experts say these shootings typically have one thing in common: they mostly happen in small, rural towns.  

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With limited access to mental health providers, small towns can lack the resources of bigger cities. Research also indicates that suicide rates are nearly twice as great in most rural areas of the nation compared to urban areas. Sunny Mueller, a Bakersfield licensed clinical counselor, said suicides by firearms are also common in these regions. 

"In rural communities, mental health care is severely lacking. Erasing the stigma around mental illness, or any kind of mental struggle whatsoever, and making sure that mental help is available to kids — in schools, outside of schools," Mueller said.