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?
Not sure which post you are responding to, but the answer is that Oakland has lots of African Americans and Irvine does not.
Why do Americans get shot so often? A large African American population, a large Republican population and too many guns. no other answer really works.
If you would have stopped at African American population, you could have finally been accused of saying something intelligent.
Why do Americans get shot so often? A large African American population, a large Republican population and too many guns. no other answer really works.
If you would have stopped at African American population, you could have finally been accused of saying something intelligent.
republicans look at kids being shot to death and say 'hey we need more guns let's let virtually anyone buy a gun with no restrictions.' It's a ridiculous viewpoint.
It's a major problem and contributes mightily to the 'americans getting shot' problem. And it's 100% on Republicans.
Why do Americans get shot so often? A large African American population, a large Republican population and too many guns. no other answer really works.
If you would have stopped at African American population, you could have finally been accused of saying something intelligent.
If we know some people (AAs) are killing each other/or others so frequently, why make guns so available? Do their lives not matter?
There are really two mass shooting crisis in the US. One is where the shooter tries to kill as many people as possible before either killing themselves or being caught or killed by law enforcement. The targets are often random. Sometimes the shootings have distinct political motivations like the Walmart shooting in El Paso and the church shooting in S. Carolina. Other times, the shootings are just the sad end of a spiraling mental health crisis.
The other mass shootings are largely gang warfare. These have gone beyond turf battles and have become nothing more than a boiling over of perceived disrespect on social media. What would have been a fist fight resulting in a black eye or bloody nose 30-40 years ago are now gun fights where multiple high capacity clips are emptied.
The reason these mass shootings are rampant in the US is two fold. First, guns of every shape and size are readily available to anyone at anytime. Second, our gun culture views gun ownership as empowerment derived from the warped view that the 2nd amendment was intended to grant every citizen the right to take up arms against what they perceive to be injustice.
Regulation of the sale of firearms in the US is a complete joke. The few states that have strong firearm sales laws are overrun with guns coming from neighboring states that have lax laws. And for criminals who do not even attempt to buy guns legally, the black market is thriving with stolen guns and guns bought by straw purchasers (i.e. someone with a clean record who buys in order to resell to the black market). The result is that anyone who wants a gun in the US can get whatever they want. The only real restriction is on fully automatic weapons, but if you can still get a bump stock and effectively convert a AR15 to a fully automatic as the guy did in the Las Vegas mass shooting.
In just about every other country, there is no right to own a firearm. It is a well regulated privilege with extensive permitting requirements and strict regulations on the kind and quantity of firearms you can own. In most countries, people just do not own firearms for personal protection or as a collection. Guns are for hunting and for a very small number of people who keep them at home for personal protection because they have jobs that make them vulnerable (judge, criminal prosecutor, etc.).
In the US, just about everyone has a firearm and many collect firearms. Gun ownership is not just about personal protection, but is about empowerment. If you have a gun, you get to use it to have the upper hand in any situation you are in. I was out playing golf and when I made the turn, there were a dozen cop cars at the club house. Two groups of golfers got into an argument about one group hitting into the other. One guy went back to his bag and pulled a gun on the other group. Then, a guy in the other group went back to his bag and pulled a gun on the other group. The stood around pointing guns at each other until the police arrived and disarmed everyone. This gun culture comes out of warped Second Amendment interpretation of the mention of arming the states against the potential tyranny of the federal government. Thus, your right to firearms is not just to protect your self from criminals, but to empower you to take on what you believe is wrong in the world. This is why most mass shooters, especially school shooters, are people who are marginalized, bullied and often suffer from mental health issues. They turn to guns as a way to empower themselves against a world that has mistreated them.
I think you have to look at what is different now than the past. Guns were certainly available in the past. Maybe even more so.
My best guess is that it could be a couple of things:
- A lack of parental involvement
- Surging on-line influences
This is an interesting observation. America has always had guns, but the high incidence of mass shootings is a relatively new phenomenon. I would add, American culture seems to be preoccupied with fame and many people have a strong sense of entitlement. People who feel lonely and anonymous in our society often seek some sort of lasting impression, even if it is negative. I think many look at the Columbine shooting and how it is still widely referenced and discussed and want to be remembered in that way too. Many Americans can't stand the thought of living in anonymity.
This makes a solution to the problem really difficult. Obviously, getting rid of guns could help, but there are already hundreds of millions of guns floating around, and it still does not address the root cause. I suspect even if there were no more guns, then homemade bombs and other methods would be tried to the same effect.
I think you have to look at what is different now than the past. Guns were certainly available in the past. Maybe even more so.
My best guess is that it could be a couple of things:
- A lack of parental involvement
- Surging on-line influences
This is an interesting observation. America has always had guns, but the high incidence of mass shootings is a relatively new phenomenon. I would add, American culture seems to be preoccupied with fame and many people have a strong sense of entitlement. People who feel lonely and anonymous in our society often seek some sort of lasting impression, even if it is negative. I think many look at the Columbine shooting and how it is still widely referenced and discussed and want to be remembered in that way too. Many Americans can't stand the thought of living in anonymity.
This makes a solution to the problem really difficult. Obviously, getting rid of guns could help, but there are already hundreds of millions of guns floating around, and it still does not address the root cause. I suspect even if there were no more guns, then homemade bombs and other methods would be tried to the same effect.
Yeah these things only exist in America.
The actual explanation couldn’t be the MUCH more obvious one.
I’m not going back through this thread to see if any or all of this has been mentioned.
All countries have issues with mental health. All countries have parenting issues and instances of a lack of parental involvement. All countries have increased online influences. Yet, the United States has more mass shootings and deaths by guns - by far. Yes, there could be more done to help with mental health but that’s not the issue.
And one is easier to get when there are 400 million.
Mass Shootings are not perpetrated on a whim. They are planned at length. There is more than enough time to get a gun in about 100 other countries with fewer guns per capita prior to committing the act.
Ok, but according to this source, Caucasian people are disproportionately responsible for incidences of mass shooting? Or maybe you're talking about some other metric of gun violence?
1. White people are 60% of the population and were much higher than 60% in 1982 when your data starts. I know math is hard but your data shows that Caucasians are UNDER represented.
2. If you count all of the mass shootings and not the randomly selected "142" shootings in your data Caucasians are even further under represented.
And one is easier to get when there are 400 million.
Mass Shootings are not perpetrated on a whim. They are planned at length. There is more than enough time to get a gun in about 100 other countries with fewer guns per capita prior to committing the act.
And even easier with the proliferation of guns here.
Mass shootings seem to also be a current fad and social phenomenon that is unique to modern times. Gun ownership has been a very common and encouraged aspect of US culture since its existence, yet going into a school and slaughtering a bunch of children as a form of suicide-by-cop has only been recently normalized. And don't say it's because of "assault rifles", people have historically used any and all firearms to carry out these killings. If you think its the existence of guns that is the main cause of these events, you're not looking deep enough and/or you're just historically ignorant.
Mass shootings seem to also be a current fad and social phenomenon that is unique to modern times. Gun ownership has been a very common and encouraged aspect of US culture since its existence, yet going into a school and slaughtering a bunch of children as a form of suicide-by-cop has only been recently normalized. And don't say it's because of "assault rifles", people have historically used any and all firearms to carry out these killings. If you think its the existence of guns that is the main cause of these events, you're not looking deep enough and/or you're just historically ignorant.
There was no 24 hour news cycle prior to the 1990s and these shooters certainly weren't sensationalized in the media before that. It's not a coincidence that the number of mass shootings spiked after news became a business.
The leftist media actually treated the Nashville shooter like he was the victim.
Hey “do research “ BLM is working an all violence towards black lives. In fact, many of its leaders have been for decades while your pasty butt has been doing nothing (at best) or whining about black crime (while ignoring that white on white murders are nearly the same but you didn’t know that)
Mass shootings seem to also be a current fad and social phenomenon that is unique to modern times. Gun ownership has been a very common and encouraged aspect of US culture since its existence, yet going into a school and slaughtering a bunch of children as a form of suicide-by-cop has only been recently normalized. And don't say it's because of "assault rifles", people have historically used any and all firearms to carry out these killings. If you think its the existence of guns that is the main cause of these events, you're not looking deep enough and/or you're just historically ignorant.
There was no 24 hour news cycle prior to the 1990s and these shooters certainly weren't sensationalized in the media before that. It's not a coincidence that the number of mass shootings spiked after news became a business.
The leftist media actually treated the Nashville shooter like he was the victim.
The adult blaming everything but the thing responsible…not very adult
There was no 24 hour news cycle prior to the 1990s and these shooters certainly weren't sensationalized in the media before that. It's not a coincidence that the number of mass shootings spiked after news became a business.
The leftist media actually treated the Nashville shooter like he was the victim.
If you’re posting here, you’re lying. I suppose if you’re talking you’re also lying.
Show a source, a reputable one, in which the Nashville shooter was portrayed as a victim.