Don't scapegoat mental health

Citizens of our community and country are concerned regarding firearm ownership and proposals to control them. Local Second Amendment activists and members of Congress need to be careful with statements regarding mental illness.

Would one person be able to kill 26 people with a hammer or a knitting tool before someone intervened? We have a gun violence problem! Some of the White House proposals will reduce the number of people killed with the use of firearms, and for that reason we must move forward with toughening gun laws.

Joyce Plis of the National Alliance on Mental Illness Stanislaus is spot on. Mental health shouldn't become the scapegoat for all gun violence. Mood disorders are among the most pervasive of all mental disorders and include major depression.

If one seeks health care for depression and has to be confined for a short period to be treated, they can be marked for life. Try getting a job with that information in a national or state data bank. If you are involved in a family court matter, the court might take your children away from you.

Be careful with the mental health stigma you place on our citizens and who has the right to make those decisions.

JOHN WARREN

Modesto