Why does the US have so many mass shootings? Honest discussion

It doesn't have all that many. Every single one is milked for every entertainment dollar it's worth, so it seems like more. And it would be far less than now if the fans of this industry got lives.

The product here isn't even murder, it's good feelings. Modern civilization is alien to normal human mentality, so you have to be fed these drugs and rituals to get your brain chemicals flowing. See something bad, cry about it, befriend the other wailers, comfort each other, make a cause out of it, find a purpose in life, rinse, repeat. A couple thousand die per year so millions can cope.

We have a very diverse culture and less national "identity" than in the past. We have few common social connections. I do not think this is the cause, but I have to think that since we do not have anything the country shares together. At one time, we all watched the same tv shows and that gave us a bit of a common ground.

We have mental health crisis that is not helped by people feeling less and less disconnected from one another. Tie in the internet letting crazy people connect far easier than ever before and can be easily manipulated.

We have so many guns that any gun laws are not going to stop it. Red flag laws, if people would use them, could do wonders. A lot of the people who commit these acts give signals that people ignore or choose to do nothing about it. Heck, a lot of times the police have had contact with the shooter before the shootings.

If someone claims to have a or "the" solution, you can pretty much count on it not being the case.

What we need, among other things? Better mental health access. More willingness on the part of people to step up when they see a warning sign. We also need to find a way to get people to feel part of society again.

Lots of countries have lots of guns.

But no other country prescribes SSRIs & speed to teens and sensationalizes mass shootings the way the U.S. does.

Not enough guns. If everyone was armed, the good guys could take down the bad guys.

It's the shoes.

No, sorry, it's the guns. Too many, and too easily obtained. That's it.

Not 400 million of them.

We have 400 million guns (more than people) in the US and as a result, they are easily available, both legal and illegal.

We are in a pickle as getting rid of these guns involves changing our Constitution. If changed, it would take decades to get rid of guns and criminals would have them to the exclusion of law abiding citizens.

Australia banned guns, but they had relatively few. My Australian friends tell me that the few that remain are in the hands of bad guys, but they largely shoot each other.

There is a social factor involved here too.

My sense is that the way adolescent society has evolved in recent years has increased the potential for isolation.

We have given teens more money, so they can construct their own social and material worlds more easily. We have given them more time to spend among themselves — and less time in the company of adults.

We have given them e-mail, social media and cellular phones, so that they can fill in all the dead spots in their day — dead spots that might once have been filled with the voices of adults — with the voices of their peers. That is a world ruled by the logic of word of mouth, by the contagious messages that teens pass among themselves.

And many of these adolescents grow up to be isolated, alienated adults.

Alienation and isolation, a necessary condition for most shooters young or in their 30s.

And what are you?
Who but the angry/isolated need to wash their heads to murder porn on a regular basis? No lives. Be honest with yourself.

I recently read a thought provoking opinion piece that used data as its starting point, and the author delved heavily into social measures that could be used to reach out and identify these troubled, at-risk youth. It took me some time to find it, but I think there are some very good recommendations here if you care to read it.

It's called "How to Reduce Shootings" in the NY Times

nytimes.com

Opinion | How to Reduce Shootings (Published 2017)

We could bring down the death toll caused by guns if we are smarter about how we regulate them.

Link:www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/11/06...

I guess what I’m saying is that it definitely is one but shouldn’t be one.

A huge basic conservative value is protecting family. Just as a huge basic liberal value is protecting the ability to voice an opinion.

Now we see conservatives speaking through their actions in the polls that having big guns that they’ll never have use for other than blowing things up at a shooting range is more important than the security of knowing their kids will come home from school tomorrow.

Now we have political liberals trying to jail, deplatform, and silence those that disagree with them.

Both sides of the US are losing the vision of their own political ideals and philosophy because social media, the news, you name it are pushing agendas that they are buying in to.

I don’t think having big hell yeah guns has ever been something truly conservative, media is just pushing it in a very strong fearmongering way that makes it sound like leftists want to take away your ability to defend yourself, and that they want to destroy the constitution.

We need to remember the constitution was written in a time that guns involved a process that took a couple minutes just to load and fire one shot, and the lack of military tech meant the people could reasonably band together and fight off a tyrannical government. Now there are handheld weapons that can be reloaded in 20-30 seconds, and clear a room full of people with one magazine. Even then, the people would have zero chance of banding together and fighting off the government. Thank god that our checks and balances system works.

The problem is that the media ignores this nuance, because if you can scare enough people into voting against something, that’s the best tactic. So now it’s “Guys look, the government is taking all of our weapons away and silencing those that disagree with it, we must fight back!” I wouldn’t blame a single person for wanting to keep their weapons if they were convinced that our government is moving in the totalitarian dictatorship position, even though it’s not true.

The problem is that if the government really wanted to do this, they would, and your fancy rifle or shotgun doesn’t mean crap to the governments military. It sure does do a lot of damage against unsuspecting kids trapped in a hallway/room though.

So I guess the point I’m trying to make is that this is only a political issue because corrupt politicians have decided to make it one to gain scared people votes. I don’t blame conservatives for this, I blame the left and right politicians that constantly want to one up one another on how each is trying to create the next world threatening totalitarian dictatorship.

Our kids are dying because people cheer for their political sides like sports teams, when really you should try to recognize when policy is doing more harm than good, and understand that you don’t have to root for whatever bull crap the left/right wing media wants you to believe and that just because you tend to like most left or right policy doesn’t mean you should exclusively support one or the other. I see it as more of an issue with society itself instead of an issue of left vs right.

What an incoherent word salad of rubbish. 30 kids get shot at school and it is "milked for entertainment issues"...nah, not that many. it is neccessary for the others to "cope".

Didn't think you could go worse than your Covid $hite, but you are sure giving it a go.

Apparently it's profanity if you don't put a dollar sign instead of an S, like $hit

Context brojos, context. It is not profane if there is no threat, 'one man's vulgarity is another's lyric'

A mass shooting only takes one.

Not because they are 'african' American, but they are 'Americans' ....'Americans' who are of a lower social and economic standing and recognition, still a long way from equality...but "americans'.

Your second part of sentence maybe on right track, but more than just blaming Republicans, it is both sides, the extreme division and outright hatred across political and social views. A society where you are 'one or the other', and the 'other' is to blame for the issues and where you have to disagree just to be different.

You see it right here on LRC, from Covid to climate threads. No responsibility for others, 'don't tell me to wear a mask, don't give me vaccines. You pussies in other countries 'have no freedom'...uh huh? No, we actually have more, by respecting others we are free to do as we please with little fear of being shot, not locked in schools with gun toting teachers defending us, no fear of police when we obey the law.

Your amendments are outdated, still meant for horse riding rangers. Just blow into the breathalyser and have a good day, no fear of a cop wanting to trip you up to fail a stupid outdated sobriety test, lets not talk about the drug sobriety test LoL..."but, but we have freedom, we are not blowing into the tube he says as he gets thrown handcuffed into the car"...why would you NOT hate the cops, why would you NOT be in fear of them. Here we ignore them, banter and joke with them etc just like any normal guy. There I would probablty $hit myself if I saw one, wondering if my 'eyes were to red' for the cop.

And so on...and every 4 years you get to decide between two baboons out of 330M people to drive you further into misery.

You'll end up wishing you were shot instead.

Life is easier … it’s that simple. No one really has to work for things.

Name anything today that is harder to do, compared to 40 years ago. So why should killing be any different?

Instant Gratification in all areas

We don’t have more crazy people out there, but we do have easier methods and means to carry out those anti-social behaviors.

The youth of today never have to wait for things like our beloved ‘boomers’… so, if you’re feeling wronged and feel like life has not been fair to you, you can act upon those feelings fairly easily. You can research how you’re going to carry out your deadly dead. You don’t have the patience to seek help even though you know that Mental Health and Wellness Centers are out there for you in growing numbers. You can find similar ‘friends” online who also feel bullied. These connections help you rationalize and normalize your decision to go down that self-destructive or murderous path.

So, why Americans? Because our life is easier than the rest of the world. Our constitution guarantees that

Based

And one is easier to get when there are 400 million.

Sure. Let's examine 2 cities in California: Irvine and Oakland. They're both in a state with a lot of gun control, yet Irvine has the lowest murder rate in the country and Oakland has a quite high one.

Can you explain why?

Stop and frisk urban youth.