Trigger Warning: Guns. Part One

My thinking on the subject has changed.

25 years ago, I created a body of work informed by the premise that access to firearms was the main cause of the epidemic of school shootings. Now, I’m not so sure I was right. I like to think that I am more educated and mature now and my thinking is a reflection of this hard-earned wisdom. Maybe.

Are SSRI’s and school shootings connected? I don’t know, but the mass prescribing of the drugs and the outbreak of the epidemic of shootings correlate precisely. Despite 49 international drug regulatory warnings on psychiatric drugs citing effects of mania, hostility, violence and homicidal ideation, and dozens of high profile shootings tied to psychiatric drug use, there has yet to be a federal investigation on the link between psychiatric drugs and violence.

Of the 39 known shooters who were on the meds, one of the Columbine shooters was on the SSRI Luvox, Kip Kinkle was taking Prozac, and the Parkland shooter was prescribed clonidine, an ADHD drug, the stimulant Focalin XR, and the antipsychotic Risperdal.

A 2018 FDA safety presentation describing the use of Lexapro in pediatric patients who became violent while taking it includes links to FDA documents, allegedly connecting SSRIs to violence, which now lead to Page-Not-Found messages.

SSRI’s are comprised of, in part, of meperidene and cyclohexene. When combined, those two make a drug called phencyclidine (PCP) or "angel dust."

“Devil Dust” would be more appropriate.

My first gun piece. Painted on vintage barn wood. Circa 1995.

My latest gun art. Acrylic and digital. 2025.