Mental health advocates and gun control activists are joining growing calls to limit people's access to guns but they say there also needs to be a change in culture. Time Warner Cable News reporter LaMonica Peters has more.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- New Yorkers Against Gun Violence partnered with mental health experts for a discussion about how mental illness is impacting gun violence in America.

On Sunday, a lone gunman ambushed an Orlando LGBTQ night club, killing 49 people and wounding 53 others. Mental illness has yet to be connected to the Orlando shooting.  

"Typically, individuals that commit violent acts are not mentally ill. They are more likely the victims of the violence happening in our community," said Michael Ranney, Erie County Commissioner of Mental Health.

New Yorkers Against Gun Violence say about 90 people die each day in the US because of a gun. Still, research shows only 4 percent of gun violence cases are due to mental illness.

Audience members spoke about escalating violence on the streets including mass shootings and some believe there's still too much access to guns. 

"I'm just hopeful that we can get the automatic weapons that are used in warfare off the streets and the accessibility to them is restricted because there is no need for that type of gun in our homes or in our lives," Carolyn Koelmel said.  

"We have to get the guns away from them and also the drugs away from them. Most of the shootings in Buffalo are drug related and gang related," said Raymond Wedekindt from Amherst. 

Currently the CDC cannot study gun violence because the research has been outlawed by Congress. UB Psychiatry Chair Dr. Steven Dubovsky says assault weapons have been available for decades but we still haven't addressed why gun violence is increasing. 

"When the problem is in fact us. Why are people becoming more violent? Everyone is modeling a culture of not respecting other people, seeing other people as less human than you are. Look at all the public demonstrations of that," said Dubovsky.

Dr. Jeffrey Grace from the Buffalo Psychiatric Center also contributed to the panel saying society must still embrace mental wellness if we are to prevent more catastrophic violent events like the massacre in Orlando.