I reviewed books for 20 years for The Advocate, the magazine for the National Alliance on Mental Illness. And some members of my family live with a mental illness.

I am appalled that some, including our president, are diverting attention from the issue of guns, their ease of acquisition and availability and the type of guns used in mass shootings – assault weapons – and instead are focusing on mental illness. Only a small portion of violent crimes are committed by persons with a diagnosable mental illness.

Members of the press must ask our lawmakers and our president why other countries have the same rate of mental health issues as we do, but their citizens are not suffering from an epidemic of mass shootings. Why is that? These countries are not awash in guns as we are. We need to stop stigmatizing people with a mental illness by making the unfounded claim that people with brain disorders are responsible for mass shootings.

I found it hard to wrap my mind around the fact that one day after the latest shooting rampage, in Odessa, Texas, new Texas firearm regulations went into effect. The state Legislature has loosened gun laws. Two examples: HB 1143 prevents a Texas public school district from regulating how licensed gun owners store their ammunition or firearms in their vehicle in a school parking lot! And, previously, guns were prohibited from Texas churches, synagogues and mosques. SB 535 allows firearms in these buildings now, unless the place of worship specifically bans it. And the Texas Legislature doesn’t meet again until 2021!

Judith Church Tydings

South Thomaston