It’s not mental health

Dear editor:

According to the American Psychological Association, mental health is not the key factor in our epidemic of mass shootings in this country because mental illness is no more of an issue in the U.S. per capita than in other countries and they don’t experience the level of gun violence we do here. Many have the same racial and economic inequalities as we do yet there are no mass shootings. The key difference is the easy access to and lethality of weapons sold in the U.S. When you factor in racism, intolerance and bigotry, it becomes a recipe for disaster. Social contagion is a real thing that allows the spread of thoughts, emotions and behaviors to spread from person to person. It’s been proven that only a relatively small percentage of people who commit these acts are diagnosed as mentally ill. I would also like to add my personal observation which is that whenever there is an act of violence involving anyone other than a white, Christian male, they are labeled a terrorist whereas a white male is deemed mentally ill? Regardless of the color of one’s skin or their religion, terrorism is terrorism and it doesn’t even have to involve physical violence to be considered a terroristic act. Many of us are in a state of denial and that denial has become lethal and is killing thousands of innocent people at the rate of 130 per day in this country, far more than any Middle-Eastern “terrorist.”