What Explains U.S. Mass Shootings? International Comparisons Suggest an Answer
When the world looks at the United States, it sees a land of exceptions: a time-tested if noisy democracy, a crusader in foreign policy, an exporter of beloved music and film.
But there is one quirk that consistently puzzles America’s fans and critics alike. Why, they ask, does it experience so many mass shootings?
Perhaps, some speculate, it is because American society is unusually violent. Or its racial divisions have frayed the bonds of society. Or its citizens lack proper mental care under a health care system that draws frequent derision abroad.
These explanations share one thing in common: Though seemingly sensible, all have been debunked by research on shootings elsewhere in the world. Instead, an ever-growing body of research consistently reaches the same conclusion.
Golly gee-- I wonder what that conclusion could be? What could possibly cause us to have so many, many more incidents of gun violence in the U.S.?
'Tis a mystery indeed.... 
The top-line numbers suggest a correlation that, on further investigation, grows only clearer.
Americans make up about 4.4 percent of the global population but own 42 percent of the world’s guns. From 1966 to 2012, 31 percent of the gunmen in mass shootings worldwide were American, according to a 2015 study by Adam Lankford , a professor at the University of Alabama.
Adjusted for population, only Yemen has a higher rate of mass shootings among countries with more than 10 million people.
I think it is a little more complex than just the mere number of guns available to the general public.
other factors also play a pretty good role , such as americans over indulgence and dependence on pharmas to treat every little thing , other countries only use the same drugs as a last resort , where as here , "I am sad " , Dr. here is a pill. "I'm hyper " , dr ,here is a pill. and so on and so on and so on.....
Another factor I can think of , parents , not all , but a good portion, are not raising their kids , they are thrusting it off on society be it the schools or some other entity, resulting in the kids having a lack of general respect present in other countries cultures, present and past.
Now this is a simple opinion , take it or leave it , but the problem is far more complex than some would like to make some think. and only addressing 1 thing is not going to even mitigate the problem .
I agree that there are several steps that should be taken, not just one thing. IMO banning assault rifles, better background checks, better mental health programmes and several others. Each of several things will decrease the rate of gun violence-- together they can make a tremendous difference.
But banning assault rifles in and of itself would make a major difference.
But banning assault rifles in and of itself would make a major difference.
No, the only way this ban would make a major difference is if the ban included a total ban on all ownership. Not just a ban on selling new. And to make millions of law abiding citizens instantly criminals is not the American way, is it?
The AWB didn't ban "total ownership" and it worked. Of course, since the expiration of that ban the numbers of AWs have exploded. Unfortunately, it willl take a lot longer for the effectiveness of a new ban to be measurable. The past 14 years have made it almost a self-fulfilling prophecy that it would never work. But that was the NRA's and gun freak community in general, right?
Actually the ban didn't work, because it depended on a combination of 3 military features as defined within the law in order for a weapon to be considered an AW. people simply left those features off and the same weapon was still legal to buy so a ban that actuially bans nothing cannot work.
many other things in the ban were grandfathered , simply because there was no way to enforce the ban.
When the sunset period came , one of the reasons the ban even passed by I think it was 1 or 2 votes, the government studies showed that it could not definitively prove that the ban had any effect the effect was so small at that time.
One thing I have noticed , one thing in common with pretty much all the mass shootings , the firearms used , be they rifle or handgun , it is usually the most popular number one seller of that time that tends to be used .
I look at the reasons for the AR platforms popularity, one is that it is the adopted platform of the US military, every veteran for the last 50 years has been introduced to it in some form or another , so being familiar with it and how it works , would tend to make it popular. the cal is popular because of the availability of ammo , us surplus as a rule tends to be cheap to shoot.
another reason for its popularity is that it can be "tailored" to an individual persons desire , all the way from the iconic platform of when it was first introduced all the way to its current configuration as a "tactical firearm that are seen in government service.
Now some may not like the next reason I think it is popular , but it is there, repeated calls for bans also play a role in its popularity, the get it now before you cant mentality.
just some things to think about.
This BS just isn't working any more. Let's hear from an actual combat veteran instead of yet another Rambo wannabe:
And, yeah-yeah, we know all the blather about "automatic" and "semi-automatic" but even having to pull the trigger each time to fire can easily deliver 100 rounds a minute. And the bump stocks, which uses the recoil to literally push the trigger against an unmoving trigger finger instead of requiring the shooter to even pull, can double the firing rate (even more in really expert shooters.
thing is XD , I am not posting to him , I am posting to those that may not have the information , those that haven't actually made up their mind about exactly what the correct or most expedient course of action really is , in other words I am hoping people look at facts , and can think for themselves in a rational manner .
the powers that be ESTIMATE that there are about 15 million of these rifles out there ,just AR's , I think that estimate is on the extremely LOW side by half or even 2/3rds.
Did you know that Israel has some extremely tough gun laws? And 1/5 of their citizens are Arabs? (Most are not at all militant, but many are). And they are a tiny country, with 4 hostile Arab nations surrounding them. Yet they don't have nearly the gun violence we have here (and that's percapita).
When potential terrorists strike with a weapon, its usually a knife. There are usually zero deaths-- or maybe 1. (If that person has an AR-15 or similar Israel military weapon that number woud be much, much larger! (Here's an article from the NY POst, which BTW is a right wing newspaper):
Israel exists under constant threat of attack — and requires citizens to serve in the military — but still has much stricter gun laws than the United States.
And those laws limit violence.
Israel has a lower gun-related homicide rate — and that’s not because it’s an intrinsically peaceful society.
In fact, public health literature suggests that if Israel had more guns, it would have more firearm deaths.
(Read it all)
Funny thing about that. One of our NT rightwing colleagues (Jermy in NC) posted a couple of graphics about that last week. One was a picture of an Israeli woman teacher with an AR slung over her shoulder and the stat of only 8 school killing over (I think) a ten year span. The other picture I can't recall but the stat was 323 for the U.S. over the same period. Problem is, the U.S. has 40 times the population as Israel so the proportion was exactly the same. It could certainly be that his stats were wrong (in fact, probable) but it does illustrate, I think, how easy it is to get confused with statistics sometimes. I don't doubt yours but if Jermy's were by chance correct it makes this confusing.
That is absolutely true.
Combination of weapons easily acquired either legally or illegally and mental health issues.
Other Countries deal with it by simply outlawing gun ownership for the general masses.
But having said that we have gone so far over the edge they will just find another vehicle (knives, trucks, explosives) to deliver their brand of insanity.