On October 1st, 2015, a gunman at a college in Oregon shot 18 people, killing nine.
The mass shooting followed an ongoing pattern seen throughout the United States.
In fact, the US sees a considerably larger number of these shootings than any other industrialized
country.
So we wanted to know, why exactly does the United States have so many mass shootings?
Well, it is important to note that there is no easily agreed upon definition for what
constitutes a “mass shooting”.
According to media sources, there have only been 72 mass shootings in the last 30 years.
Meanwhile, a cited list of mass shooting incidents lists 377 in 2014 alone.
Why the distinction?
Well, the first refers fairly specifically to indiscriminate murder sprees in public
places like the massacres in Oregon, Sandy Hook, and Aurora.
But the FBI defines a “mass murder” as any four or more murders occurring in a single
incident.
This skyrockets the number of cases, and includes gang disputes, domestic altercations, and
armed robbery.
Obviously there is a concrete difference between a person who shoots up a school and gang violence.
The causes and solutions to both are very distinct, and often the source of much misunderstanding.
When addressing the total number of mass shootings, there is a clear and defined correlation between
the number of guns and rates of shootings.
A Harvard study found that wherever there are more guns, there is more homicide, even
after accounting for rates of assault, robbery, unemployment, poverty, and alcohol consumption.
This follows the fact that in states where it is easier to purchase guns, there are naturally
more guns, and thus higher homicide rates.
Recent reports have attempted to make it clear that mental illness is not a major contributing
factor to most mass murders, and that gun control is the real solution.
But when addressing the less common, but more frequently discussed public massacres, there
are certain, specific patterns that emerge.
A majority of the attackers have been white men showing signs of mental instability, who
had acquired their guns legally.
And this is relatively unsurprising.
Gun background checks are limited in their ability to check private mental health records.
And mental health care in the US overall is lacking.
In 2012 it was reported that roughly 90 million Americans lived in an area without adequate
access to mental health care, which is also expensive and massively stigmatized within
American culture.
The fact is that there are many different types of mass shootings, with a combination
of contributing factors.
When lawmakers and media personalities discuss various solutions, especially involving gun
control and mental health care, they are often speaking in different contexts.
Yes, overall mass murders will go down with stricter gun control laws, however, better
mental health care would likely reduce the number of public massacres.
America’s real mass murder problem is when those deaths are politicized, and solutions
are ignored along partisan lines.
Some people claim that stricter gun control laws are the solution to ending mass shootings.
But just how easy is it to get a gun in the U.S. anyway?
Watch Seeker Daily’s video to find out.
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