The REAL Reason For The American Mass Shooting Problem

Guns, Guns,Guns!

Why exactly do we keep seeing reports of so many mass shootings in the United States? The Gun Control advocates would have you believe the mere existents of guns makes people want to kill others violently. The Pro Gun advocates would tell you it’s the lack of guns which gives those who disregard the law a clear ticket to kill indiscriminately. The issue may not be as simple as those who subscribe to these ideas make it out to be. The real answer my not be easy to find and it may not coincide with a particular political agenda. Most people enjoy finding convenient answers to all of their problems. One which matches their politics and one which avoids having to question their own part of the problem.

Over the past couple of years, researchers have discovered that there has been a 400% increase in antidepressant use all across America. Also less than a third of those who take antidepressant medication has see a mental health professional within the past year. Today, One in Ten Americans are on some sort of anti depression medication. The more popular ones people are taking today are called Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitors, or SSRI. The brand name for these drugs are called Prozac or Fluoxetine. The FDA released a study showing the direct link between SSRI antidepressants and violent behavior on September 2011. In fact, it has already been confirmed that many of the Mass Shootings which has occurred has often been attributed to prescription drugs.

I think both sides already knew about the other inherent problem with mass shootings: Mental Health. But it was just easier to look at guns as the solution or the problem. People who are depressed or other mental issues really do have some grave problems. And it shouldn’t be overlooked if these types of people feel that all of their problems will be solved if they go on a killing spree. It could be that they simply weren’t loved enough or they don’t have the attention that they so desperately seek. They often feel insignificant. Like they don’t matter. Often times, these people commit suicide, as suicide is the most leading death by injury in the United States. Even more deaths than car accidents.

However, the ones who are even more hungry for attention aren’t just looking at only the suicide angle. After all, killing yourself isn’t going to make national headlines. It’s much more appealing to the media if go out on a killing spree, and then tragically kill yourself. The media sensationalizes tragedies like this and teaches people who crave attention, that if you want to be remembered and go down in history then do the most horrific thing imaginable.

Most of those who advocate gun control will use this as a reason why there should be stricter gun control laws on the book. Stricter background checks and checks for mental health. Anything to prevent madmen from obtaining a gun. It seems pretty sad to me that people would rather blame an inanimate object for the problem rather than look at how broken their society really is. Suppose you achieve the Gun Free utopia that you really want. What exactly are you going to do after you’ve banned guns and the crime doesn’t stop? Are you going follow the United Kingdom’s example and start calling for a ban on knives? Maybe the United States will take it as far as China did and start executing people for going around on a Mass Stabbing Spree. I also wonder how far the Government will take it if people actually die in the mass stabbings like what happened in the Osaka school massacre. What next, torture then execution?

If you profess that your goal is just to prevent or limit the amount of mass shootings, then you’re an even bigger problem than those who only want to focus on guns restrictions. Mass shootings are not the norm. Not compared to any other violent crime committed in the United States. In fact, it consist of less than 1% of all violent crime in the US. According to Reason TV, there aren’t any major upswings when it comes to Mass Shootings. It’s impossible to find a consistent trend because you are dealing with such a low number in the first place.

Conclusion

After the tragedy, it didn’t take long for the media and the Internet to find a different political issue to argue about. If you give it sometime, people won’t even remember who Adam Lanza is. But it’s good to know he at least got what he wanted from the Media: His 15 Minutes of Fame.

I know this is going to sound all too familiar, but guns don’t kill people. It’s an inanimate object. ‘It’ on it’s own doesn’t have the power to destroy or save lives. It’s not the problem. People are the problem. When are people going to learn that violence is a social problem. Until people dig deeper than the arbitrary red herring, they’re going to continue to see more of this type of violence. And it won’t matter whether they ban guns or not.