Finding and Fixing the root causes of Mass Shootings

Then find a study that DOES look at “root causes”

 

The FBI and other law enforcement authorities all have their own agendas.

 

Your list did not directly include what I would claim is the main root cause - but some of your points are indirectly related such as the negative attention and the "metoo" BS - along with the PC nonsense.

We are raised on the platitude that we live in a free society. The people then have the expectation of freedom. Unmet expectations are part of the problem. Look at someone living on a bowl of rice a day in some poor nation in Africa. If this was here people would riot.. they don't in Africa because they do not expect any different.

Back to the platitude. We are raised with on the motto's "Give me Liberty or Give me Death" - "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase temporary security deserve neither liberty nor security".

The reality is something different - we now live in a nation where it is our "Patriotic Duty" to give up individual liberty - over fear of a risk of harm that is 400 times less than the risk of harm from walking.

The safeguards that the founders put in place to protect us from Totalitarianism have been - or are being systematically removed. Gov't power has increased and police powers along with it - at the expense of individual liberty. The Establishment is now going after freedom of speech - freedom of the press - freedom of information. As of 2013 it became legal for our intelligence agencies to create and disseminate propaganda on US Citizens - not that this wasn't happening prior but, now it is "State Sanctioned".

When the Gov't has no respect for individual liberty - what does this teach our youth ?

Now for the Popcorn Theory. You know - you put the seeds in a pot with some oil and turn on the heat. If I say to you - "tell me which seed will pop first" you tell me that you have not a clue. What you can tell me however is that at some point - one of those seeds will pop - and if you keep the heat turned on eventually the lid will come off the pot.

When I look out on to the sea of humanity - the raging masses - I can not tell you which one will pop next. What I can tell you though is if we keep the heat on - if the Gov't keeps abusing individual liberty towards a quazi Totalitarian police state - more are going to pop - and perhaps some day the lid is going to come off the pot.

Bad law - by definition - puts more citizens in confrontation with police. Power corrupts and more power corrupts more. The "one bad apple" apology is abject nonsense. People in general are conceited, arrogant, controlling, self absorbed and generally nasty - and police are People. With more power you are going to have more abuse of power.

 

Waaaaa?

Is this another conspiracy theory?

 

Just an observation regarding human nature.

 

Sure, I agree mothers can teach discipline. But they can’t address issues such as dating or anger management the same as a father because it’s impossible for them to have experienced such things themselves in the same way. Then there’s the physical aspect. If a boy physically outgrows his mother before learning respect for her you have serious problems.

I would think personal development of discipline would be rare without some foundation though, right? I suppose a lot of this boils down to the individual. Obviously some kids with great parents are losers and vice versa. We are looking at trends and averages. For example, someone else may try cycling and learn they prefer giving up and riding the bus or taking an Uber.

 

Human? Government isn’t human. It’s God!

 

It's in his manifesto. Read it for God Sake!!!!

 

Did you see post #64? Are you convinced that all those people are xenophobes? That all those people are from a group that is associated with what you linked to? That all those people "love to hate Jews"? Is "loving to hate Jews" linked to only one ideological group?

There is no "one major root cause" and surely you realize that?

 

The vast majority of mass shooters had a thousand red flags ignored months and years before their spree. Vegas shooter is the scary one as there is literally zero protection from this type of attack.

 

Just sayin'.

Mental Health Experts: Stop Blaming Mass Shootings On Mental Illness
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/mental-health-experts-mass-shootings-mental-illness

 

There is an association, but as has been stated by yourself in other discussions, correlation does not equal causation.

That matter aside, there is the fact that the majority of those who have engaged in mass shootings, do not appear to have had access to firearms at a point prior in their life. There are no accounts that these individuals grew up around firearms, or were exposed to them early on in their formative years.

Would such serve to undermine the theory of the weapons effect by showing disturbed individuals are disturbed long before the presence of a weapon ever becomes a factor? Or would it suggest the theory only manifests in individuals who have not been exposed to weapons in a safe and responsible manner?

 

It is not just yourself in this particular case.

 

Are you sure about the Texas shooter or have you been swayed by the stereotypes shoved down our throats? I haven't seen his manifesto, but my take from what I read on Huff Puff is that he is an anti-fascist decrying overpopulation and expressing disgust that climate refugees are 'invading' and spreading overpopulation and, therefore, climate-driven disaster.

 

APA Condemns Loss of Life from Gun Violence, Disputes Link to Mental Illness
https://www.psychiatry.org/newsroom...-gun-violence-disputes-link-to-mental-illness

Mental health programs are severely underfunded in this country and access to needed care is challenging for individuals and families. It is important to note that the overwhelming majority of people with mental illness are not violent and far more likely to be victims of violent crime than perpetrators of violence. Rhetoric that argues otherwise will further stigmatize and interfere with people accessing needed treatment. Individuals can also be emboldened to act violently by the public discourse and divisive rhetoric.

 

The same applies to just about every other group in the US. Anyone that goes out with the intention of killing as many as possible has a mental problem. The problem is identifying and doing something about it before they commit these atrocities.

Both of these individuals had red flags that should have alerted.

I am generally opposed to limits on magazine size. But that was when they were on the order of fifteen or so. Not when, they have the capability to carry hundreds of rounds ready to shoot. The shooter in Ohio, especially, was a killing machine. We are fortunate that he was stopped so quickly.

 

With this definition, almost every summer weekend in Chicago has a mass shooting.
That would place this subject squarely into gang violence.
But since you probably mean highly publicized mass shootings - I think those fall into terrorism category.

Causes:
Rise of social media - young people don’t have that much in person communication as in the past. This results in lower chances of finding a girlfriend, which generally raises mans self esteem.
Video games distort perception of reality for some.
Radicalization of mass media - everything is white mans fault. Every white male that ever applies to college financial aid learns that being white male means you will get the least. Being black earns you most. No matter how you twist it, it’s institutionalized racism.
Parents should attempt to keep their kids political views more on the moderate side, left, right, doesn’t matter - keep it reasonable. There are parents and school teachers who do attempt to radicalize young peoples views.

To expand on video games - this week in Ukraine in the news I saw a story where a teenager was playing video game and his grand father attempted to get him to come outside and help in the yard. The kid refused. Old man turned off the game console and the kid grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed his own grandfather. Over a f@king game! I don’t know what can be done about it, but ignoring the influence of a game on someone’s mind is ignoring the reality.

 

what has changed, not only the number, but the reason or no reason since the 1960's. Prior to the 1960's most mass shootings were famlicides or committed in a felony. The shooting knew his victims for the most party. Post 1960's, mass shootings are now in public places with the killing of innocent bystanders, folks the shooter didn't know. Killing for killings sake. Also the number of mass shootings has skyrocketed since the decade of the 1960's.

https://www.globalresearch.ca/mass-shootings-in-america-a-historical-review/5355990

From 1900-1970 we had 28 mass shootings, well over 150 since 1970 and climbing even higher. Here's a list from the 1920's.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mass_shootings_in_the_United_States

This leads me to believe that something has gone wrong with our society. What that is, I don't know. I also know that no attempt has been made to discover the root cause. I firmly believe that the gun control approach is like trying to treat a brain tumor patient with a headache with an aspirin. The Aspirin gets rid of the headache but does nothing to treat the cause. The headaches will continue to come and come at a more frequent rate.

I also think that if one could remove all these semi automatic guns, the shooters would just resorts to rifles, shotguns and pistols. Remove them, they go to knives, machetes, fire, arson, bombs, chemicals, driving cars into crowds, all sorts of other means. As long as the root cause remains, the means may change, but the killing continues and the killings will become more and more frequent.

I can't offer a cure, I don't know what it is. I do know something ill has happened to our society. I think history shows this and than gun control isn't the answer. Finding the cause is. My two cents.

 

Much more difficult than going to the gun store and purchasing an assault rifle. As I said: we might not stop all mass shootings, but we can save lives by making them more difficult. Right now we have so many because it's so easy.

Artisan guns are an example. Sure, there are videos on how to make one. But, besides the effort, unless you are very skilled, you'll have a greater chance of it exploding and killing you (or chopping off several fingers) before anybody else.

The argument "there are other ways to kill people, therefore, we shouldn't save any lives" has never made any sense whatsoever to me. Making it more expensive, harder, more dangerous, requiring more effort, ...if any of that saves lives, then it's very much worth it.

 

This is an absurd mischaracterization It's as if I were to describe your position as "make everybody a Christian and all our problems are solved"

Strawman arguments like these are at the root of the problem. Or, at least, at the root of hampering serius efforts to solve the problem.

Ban guns and a few problems will be solved. Stop inciting people to violence, and another few. Promote moral values (whether Christian or other) and another handful. Educate people from childhood to respect all cultures, and you got a handful more.... and so on.

There is no one solution. But to discard partial solutions because they are "partial" is absurd.

Personally, of all of the above, the list I gave can be implemented in the short term, and we will see a quicker result.

 

Some facts that cannot be ignored if America is to reduce its obscene level of firearm carnage:

All advanced nations have alienated and disgruntled young, white males with gender-based persecution complexes, feeling lonely, disaffected, unsuccessful, with little prospects or hopes of ever succeeding, feeling unattached to society.

All advanced nations have familial and societal instabilities and inequalities.

All advanced nations have mental illness.

All advanced nations have video games.

The United States distinguishes itself from other advanced nations by its having far more permissive laws regarding the regulation of firearms.

The United States distinguishes itself from other advanced nations by having far more firearms per capita.

The United States distinguishes itself from other nations by having a far higher rate of firearm fatalities.

Regardless of whether anyone, for whatever reason, needs to avoid addressing the problem through publicly-supported legislative measures, we need to dispel the societal mystique that makes guns inordinately attractive to some, and the psychological dependence upon them - that possessing them is necessary to feel manly, safe and secure.

Guns are mechanical devises that have practical application, and from which from which some also derive pleasure. In that respect, they should be treated largely as we treat automobiles that also kill when misused and are controlled by those who are not in control of themselves.​

 

I agree. Unless they're talking about the type of mental illness that Trump suffers. Treating mental illness is not a bad idea. But it's likely to have the least impact in solving the problem, as proven by the link above.

Having said that, if the right believes that we should focus on the treatment of mental illness, then they should call their legislators today, and ask them to stop trying to repeal mental illness coverage in Obamacare. And to pass mandatory background checks that would ensure that people who have mental illnesses cannot buy guns. Otherwise, it's just hypocrisy.

 

There is zero chance that those weapons would kill 40 people in 30 seconds

Or shoot 500 in ten minutes

You need a military style assault weapon to do that

 

But, but, how are conservatives going to avoid talking about a huge aspect of the problem (shhhhh, it's guns), if we can't talk about a red herring........mental illness?
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/mental-health-experts-mass-shootings-mental-illness

 

Assault rifles are not available in any gun store, a fact which destroys your premise