RE: Anti-Anxiety Pills
I agree, you can't just assume. Drugs that impact brain chemistry, in general, are poorly understood, even by the experts. Without getting too personal, I had to take some pills prescribed by a neurologist, and after a year he asks how the pills effect and side-effect. About half the side effects were opposite what is cautioned, and some effects are not even attributable to the medicine itself. Just to say, individuals will respond differently.
As far as SSRI and similar medication; a big problem is that they are over-prescribed.
Let's assume for a second that these drugs are tied to shootings, etc... even in that instance, these aren't mass murder / suicide pills. Most will not see any side effects, some will have other unrelated side effects, and a small portion will be in the right frame of mind, have the right buttons pushed, and already have that desire in their subconscious. Those rare individuals will do something they might never have done more than think about otherwise.
As far as solutions go... I really can't think of any easy ones. More study seems a fair place to start. I would probably say, better to force studies of these things to someone without the financial incentive to see them pass scrutiny.
This is a complex issue, and I'm far from expert in the field to comment any more deeply.
They probably are being overprescribed but it's hard to imagine what the solution is. You would think there would be a solid set of guidelines and at the surface, there seems to be. I know one individual who is taking an SSRI. They had a psychologist recommend it and still had to get a medical doctor to prescribe it. I guess it comes down to the competency of the individual doctors and to some degree the honesty of the patient. But given how overprescribed pain pills are, it doesn't leave you with much confidence.