It’s not mental health causing these mass shootings

How do parents go schoolsupply shopping and then die shielding their baby from bullets?

That’s what Elizabeth Terry asked last week, in the wake of a mass shooting in El Paso. Terry’s niece, Jordan Anchondo, and her husband, Andre, sacrificed their lives to protect their infant son.

The horror stories in Gilroy, El Paso, and Dayton were agonizingly familiar. We again find ourselves — as we did after Littleton, Aurora, and Highlands Ranch — devastated by grief and desperate for leadership.

Washington offered little comfort on either front.

Donald Trump — who has used both his candidacy and his presidency to fan the flames of racism — blamed the massacres on mental illness. His explanation ignores both the evidence at hand and his own role in inciting

violence and blocking gun safety.

Let’s get a few things straight. First, white nationalism is an ideology, not a diagnosis.

Second, most people with mental illness are not violent; they are, in fact, far more likely to be the victims of crime than the perpetrators.

Third, mental illness is not unique to the United States. Nor are video games, violent movies, or any of the other culprits the NRA and its apologists like to cite in their attempt to divert our attention.

The most obvious explanation for gun violence in America is our massive arsenal of firearms — and our unwillingness to impose even modest restrictions on their availability.

To be clear, it’s not Americans who are unwilling. It’s the politicians who (mis)represent us. Take Sen. Cory Gardner. Gardner is the fourth biggest beneficiary of NRA money in the entire Congress. The gun lobby has spent about $4 million to keep him in office.

It was a shrewd investment. Gardner has voted against every proposal to reduce the risk of gun violence.

Universal background checks? Magazine limits? An assault weapons ban?

Gardner says no, no and no. He reiterated his opposition last week.

Gardner’s stance puts him at odds with the vast majority of his constituents. An estimated 97% of Americans support universal background checks, not because such laws will stop every shooting — no law can do that — but because they will decrease the death toll.

It’s been nearly six months since the House passed legislation requiring universal background checks. The Senate has done nothing.

If we’re serious about saving lives, we should also address the gun deaths in which mental illness does play a role: suicide.

I spent the past four years as the president and CEO of Mental Health Colorado, the state’s leading advocate for the prevention and treatment of mental health and substance use disorders. It’s a cause I championed as the speaker of the Colorado House — and one that became profoundly personal for me on Jan. 1, 2015.

That’s when my cousin Melissa died by suicide. She would have turned 40 this month, if the stigma of mental illness had not stopped her from seeking help.

Suicides account for twothirds of gun deaths in America and three-quarters in Colorado. Preventing suicide will require us not only to expand access to mental health care but also to limit access to weapons.

Colorado took a step in that direction this year by authorizing judges to issue extreme risk protection orders. I was proud to lead Mental Health Colorado in supporting that measure for the first time.

Our state’s progress, however, is no substitute for the national leadership we still need. Nor does the trumpeting of mental health care let the NRA or Donald Trump off the hook.

When you gut gun laws or embolden extremists, you should not be surprised when violence follows. In the meantime, the Anchondos’ six-year-old daughter will keep asking for her mom and dad. Justin Mock, Vice President of Finance and CFO; Bill Reynolds, Senior VP, Circulation and Production; Bob Kinney, Vice President, Information Technology