Is anyone able to articulate what it is about the US that seemingly makes people want to go around killing each other all the time? Yesterday you had two mass shootings in different states, in the same day. Add these to the enormous number of shootings that occur each year, not to mention the various school massacres, et.al., and it all makes me wonder, why is there such an enormous proliferation of mass shootings in the US that doesn't occur anywhere else in the Western world? I'm not wanting this thread to be a discussion about gun control; more a discussion of why so many people, see the opportunity or need so regularly to kill each other? Any thoughts?

It is something that is of serious concern, but worst of all it is a new trend.

There is something fundamentally flawed within our society, but no lawmaker is willing to stand up and say that (granted it is hard to get elected if you insult the public), they would rather pass knee-jerk reactionary legislation to appeal to the voters.

Passing laws won't do a thing because the people who do these sort of things don't care. There is something wrong with our society that brings out a murderous streak in some people.

You don't see this any other country or at any other time in our history.

I agree with your comments mpd8488. This issue will not be solved or resolved by things like gun-control, etc. It requires (IMO) a cultural shift at many levels of society. I have long believed that high school shootings stem from the inherent culture that has been cultivated in schools of "groups", popularity contests, etc. What is the one things that every high school film has in common? They all have their cheerleaders and jocks as the high school rules; they have their nerds as the kids getting picked on; they have their goths; their stoners; their skateboarders, etc. The media perpetuates this idea that it's somehow ok to pick on people, and I believe that this attitude results in many high school shootings. Could this same culture then transgress to adulthood, with the concept of the divide between haves and have nots?

Well, GOP presidential hopeful, Rudolf Guiliani, attributed the drop in violent crime in New York City to strict gun control laws, which is an interesting position for a Republican candidate to take.

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Violent video games?

Don't worry, he'll change that. One down (abortion) two to go (this and gay marriage). You can't be a "real" Republican with those kinds of stances.

I think that we shouldn't overlook the obsessive and sensationalist quality of US media these days. Shooting up some public place is a guaranteed way to be on the headline of every show and newspaper for weeks. And, US culture places an inordinate amount of value on getting your 15 minutes of fame.

I'm not saying that this is the only culprit or even the most important one, but I do think it plays a role. If someone is angry or depressed, they can at least "go out in a blaze of infamy".

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I think you're closer to the mark their Doc. We live in an age of celebrity, where it seems the advent of "reality" (?) television inspires many to want to get their 15 minutes (or is that seconds?) of fame. In the modern digital age, mass murders of infamous criminals are almost glamorised, eg the Great Train Robbers, Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer, et al. As I said earlier, I think it's a cultural combination of youthful activities, media, and a bunch of other things that ultimately contribute to it.

And violent video games make it all seem unreal.

I personally feel that is a large part of the problem, Sam. Violent video games don't teach our kids how to reason, how to be patient or how to forgive. They don't teach kids how to negotiate, how to compromise or how to deal with defeat. All they seem to offer is violence as the only way of dealing with conflicts or disappointments. Couple that with the national mindset of "might makes right", that it is only 'winning" that is important, that everyone one that is 'different" from you is a potential enemy and on ad nauseum and you get real close to the perfect prescription for creating such violent behavior.

Gem

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These events get so hyped by the media that their frequency and severity become highly inflated.

In truth, you are several times more likely to be struck by lightning than harmed in a school shooting.

There are ~300 million people in the US. Some are whackos.

Matt

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Noahath, while I think it is interesting and important to examine the social and cultural factors that may play a role in mass killings in the US, I don’t know that you can factor out the effects of laws on the phenomenon.

I certainly agree with all the good points made by the others here, such as the influence of violent video games, TV shows and films; media sensationalism; changes in society, etc.

But then let us look at Australia’s case.

While in terms of total number of murders, including gun deaths, Australia is way behind the US, if we take mass shooting as a particular phenomenon, there was a time in the recent past when things turned ugly here.

112 people died in 11 mass shootings in Australia during the decade 1986-1996

The worst was the Port Arthur massacre in Tasmania on April 28, 1996, when a lone gunman went on a shooting spree, killing 35 people and wounding another 18. As far as I am aware, it remains the worst mass shooting by an individual in the world.

The point is that since semi-automatic weapons were banned after the Port Arthur incident, there has not been a single mass shooting in the decade 1996-2006.

Gun deaths in rapid decline since buyback - National - smh.com.au

If gun laws don’t have any effects, what, then, were the societal/cultural factors behind the spate of mass killings in Australia between 1986-1996, and what changes took place in our society in the past decade to account for zero mass shootings?

We have violent TV shows and films and video games here; our media also sensationalises such crimes. So what exactly is different here?

Okay…nighty night everyone…I hope I don’t dream of mass killers!

Tethys

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For the love of God I hope you're joking. The only people who are affected by video game violence are conservatives. That's why they're always trying regulate video games. Because they recognize the weaker mental capacity of their children.


That guy reminds me of MacGuyver.

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"[T]he illiteracy level of our children are appalling."—Washington, D.C., Jan. 23, 2004

This is not unique to the United States, however.

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"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases."

-Thomas Jefferson

Then how do you account for the low gun crime rates in Nations such as Switzerland, Canada, and Finland which have much higher per capita gun ownership? What about other nations in which violent crime rose after guns were more strictly regulated?

Both sides of the gun control debate fail to realize that banning guns has no predictable outcome. In some nations gun crime may go down, but in others it may rise. Pointing out the effects of firearm restriction in one nation has absolutely no bearing on the effects of similar restrictions in another.

It is all cultural. In the U.S. parents freak out over their children seeing nudity while violence is condoned. I'm not saying that violent media is a sole contributor, but their are some children who are not moderated in their intake of that sort of material. There is also the breakdown of family units. Half of marriages in end in divorce (and to think we are worried about gays ) and this can create instability in children. I think we all know kids who started heading down a bad path after their parents went through a difficult divorce. Another part is the mistrust of government authority. We are so concerned with tracking down drug users that it creates an inherent distrust between the government and the people. This drives much of our street level crime, and street level crime gives way to violent crime. And finally our sense of community is waning. We were once friendly toward our neighbors and had strong community bonds. A strong sense of community leads to happier people and subsequently less criminal behavior.