AUSTIN, Texas — The President and Texas's governor were among those quick to highlight mental health issues following the El Paso shooting.

• Some lawmakers blame mental illness for El Paso shooting
• No evidence that El Paso shooter was mentally ill
• A study showed most mass shooters were not mentally ill

It's a common reaction among Republican lawmakers following mass shootings, but there's been no information released regarding the mental health of the suspected gunman in Saturday’s massacre. Now, Democrats and mental health experts are calling for a different conversation.

"Mental illness and hatred pulled the trigger not the gun," said President Donald Trump in a press conference.

Then, the state's senior senator made a similar point.

"We know that mental illness is a feature of a lot of this," said Sen. John Cornyn. 

Gov. Greg Abbott also pointed to mental illness immediately following the brutal mass shooting in El Paso last weekend.

"Mental health is a large contributor to any type of violence or shooting violence," said Gov. Abbott.

But mental health professionals say lawmakers are attempting to use mentally ill people as "scapegoats" for gun violence.

"There's been no evidence to show that the perpetrator had a mental illness or any type of mental health diagnosis," said Alison Sughrue with the Texas chapter of National Alliance on Mental Illness.

Sughrue calls the shooting in El Paso a hate crime, and says zeroing in on mental illness could be damaging to those who do suffer.

"It makes people more reluctant to seek out care, it makes people less empathetic to them. It can even jeopardize their safety. And the fact is, people who have a mental health disorder are more likely to be victims of a violent crime than a perpetrator," said Sughrue. 

Democratic El Paso Congresswoman Veronica Escobar also called on lawmakers to stop using mental illness as an excuse.

"The manifesto narrative is fueled by hate, and it's fueled by racism," said Escobar. 

She argues blaming such rampages on mental illness is a way to avoid talking about gun violence and the rise of white supremacy.

A 2015 study of about 230 mass homicides since the early 1900s found that only 22-percent of the killers could be considered mentally ill. And according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, people who suffer from mental illness are statistically more likely to hurt themselves, then attack another person.