It comes from having absolute awful mental healthcare in this country, and while the easy access to guns is probably compounding it, that's not dealing with the source of the problem.

I'm pretty used to it now.

Mental health care is shit pretty much everywhere.

Yeah I'm pretty sure the US is somewhere in the upper quartile when it comes to mental care in advanced countries.

Well, one aspect of it here is the very very negative stigma of going to therapy or anything like that.

Giving guns to people of questionable mental stability (aka "responsible gun owners") has predictable outcomes. Mass shootings have been deemed to be acceptable by some majority of Americans, much like fatal car accidents are deemed acceptable

I'd bet anything that "mental health care" is much better in US than here (not so sure that *mental health* is, but I can say that depression and suicides are not uncommon, and I'd say it's slightly easier to get dangerous drugs than guns).

Ogion, do you live in America? Mass shootings are definitely NOT acceptable by americans.

Remember when St. Reagan obliterated mental health care funding in the 80s?

I do.

@Ogion: are you equating "responsible gun owners" with mental instability? That's incredibly wrong, offensive, and laughworthy in so many ways.

Remember when Obamacare became law in 2013 and went into full effect in January of 2014, preventing americans from being denied mental heath care for pre-existing mental illness?

I do.

@Chaqa: I think he's implying that if we get rid of both guns and cars that we will stop killing each other. Treat the tool not the problem. It's that easy.

Car drivers are subject to tests of ability. Gun owners are not.

Mental health stigma is a problem everywhere.

the tests are to make sure you don't accidentally damage property or kill someone. Mass murderers don't accidentally kill people. Especially at point blank range and when you ask them what their religion is before shooting them

@yoyoyozo, I do live in the U.S. And one can tell that they are acceptable simply judging by the fact that Americans display zero political will to change anything to address this issue. Don't tell me what you find acceptable. Show me what you accept and I'll tell you what you find acceptable.

@Chaqa. I was pointing out that all the folks who commit these and the tens of thousands of other murders are all considered "responsible gun owners" right up until the moment the act irresponsibly and start killing people. (Of course, most gun owners are pretty misguided. For example, many think that guns make them safer, when all data show that owning a gun greatly increases your risk of death by gun violence. That's not mentally unstable, though, you're right.)

@Tyran. I was merely drawing a comparison that Americans have decided as a matter of policy that fatal car wrecks are an acceptable cost of having such useful devices. Similary, apparently Americans have also decided that mass murders are an acceptable costs since the perceived benefit of having a country awash in guns appears to outweigh that cost in the mind of the body politic. When people decide that mass murders aren't worth it, we'll start to have gun control. It's that simple.

Gun owners are required to pass a background check. And if your "ability" with a firearm is not up to par then I would probably call that natural selection as your probably going to maim or kill yourself. Not the guns fault if your an incompetent.

The murderer shown a very proficient ability to use a handgun, but thanks for your concern.

^@diplomat

@Ogion: Folks living in the ghettos of Detroit, Chicago etc with they Gat who shoot and kill each other are NOT responsible gun owners. Also some of the places with the strictest gun laws have much much higher murder rates than oh say... texas?

@Ogion

People think they understand reason why everything bad happens in the world when in reality, no one knows. First it was violent video games, then it was assault rifles. funny thing is, neither of these things are the culprit. Actually studies and data disprove both of those theories and data also disproves the theory of lack of mental health funding.

Please, tell me how america hasn't done anything to try to prevent these mass shootings? Chicago has some of the tightest gun laws in the world. At the same time, it's the city with the highest number of shootings the US. What exactly is your recommendation, since you seem to be an expert of preventing shootings?

"Chicago has some of the tightest gun laws in the world. At the same time, it's the city with the highest number of shootings the US."

Ok, but are we talking about shootings or abot *mass shootings*? Cos I can tell you that around here there are many shootings too, but I've heard about only 1 case somewhat close to a mass shooting in my whole life.

How many *mass shootings* are there in Chicago?

lmao you have no idea. Let me go look it up

13 mass shootings in 2015

http://shootingtracker.com/wiki/Mass_Shootings_in_2015

348 shot and killed in Chicago this year so far.

@Ogion: Would you treat all gun owners as criminals then? How can you claim someone is an irresponsible gun owner before they do anything irresponsible? It's like having a three-strikes system but starting people with two strikes.a

@ Yoyoyo: "Chicago has some of the tightest gun laws in the world."

This is an absurd statement. Chigaco has fairly tight gun laws by *American* standards. Gun laws in Chigaco are, by comparison, nowhere near as tight as most EU countries.

Thanks Jamiet, useful as always.

@Jamiet99uk: the point still remains that one of the cities with the tightest gun laws in our country has a higher gun crime/murder rate than much much looser controlled areas.