Mass shootings are not exclusive to the US...

[Archae]

A Czech guy went off his nut.

6 dead after man opens fire in Czech hospital waiting room

Six people were killed and three more wounded in a shooting in a hospital in the eastern Czech Republic Tuesday, the prime minister and officials said.
The apparent suspect later shot himself dead as police approached his car.

https://www.wisn.com/article/6-dead-after-man-opens-fire-in-czech-hospital-waiting-room/30178010

[Wounded Bear]

1. But violence is contagious, and we are patient zero...

[Boxerfan]

2. Yeah-but we can say- We're #1

With a bullet.....

Is this a serious post or somehow we are to think or gun violence is "not that bad " as compared to....

Yeah-ummm-Nope.

[guillaumeb]

3. No one said that they were.

But there is no legitimate need for a country with 350 million people to have over 350 million weapons.

[Enoki33]

4. Why the hell is this relevant?

[USALiberal]

5. Who told you that it was only us??? Nt

[Archae]

6. If this happened in US...

The 24/7 news channels would be all over this story, finding lots of talking heads to speculate and repeat rumors.
Until the authorities had the facts nailed down.

BUT...

Since it happened in another country, (one that doesn't make it into the news a lot,) it shows up on a local Milwaukee station, but not much else.

[TubbersUK]

7. They've had 2 mass shootings since 1968 if I'm reading this correctly:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_massacres_in_the_Czech_Republic#Massacres_after_1989

[Caliman73]

8. True. There is gun violence in every nation.

The major difference is in the scope and number of incidents.

The United States has far and away, the most gun related deaths AND the most mass shootings of any other nation with a similar economic status.

I am not a proponent of confiscation, or bans, or gun control for the sake of gun control. I favor a root cause mitigation strategy where we deal with the systemic and individual factors that motivate violence in general and gun violence in specific. However, violence in general and gun violence in particular are complex issues that must be studied without impediment and ALL solutions and their consequences should be on the table including limits on access to firearms if the strategy can be effective.

Last week, or maybe a little longer, Nikki Haley was talking about the shooting in Charleston and the Confederate Flag and gun violence. She repeated the same tired conservative talking point about, "now is not the time" and "politicizing a tragedy" that is complete BS.

There are people struggling all over the world. They have their various motivations for shooting up public places, using trucks, blades, and bombs. I don't think that we will ever prevent every single act, but the United States for all of its economic and political power seems to have people who can access guns in particular, more easily than other similar countries, and they decide to shoot their fellow Americans at much higher rates than these other countries.

[Archae]

9. Couple weeks ago on PBS' show "Nova..."

The two-hour extended show was devoted to the fact that we as a world society, are far less violent than we used to be.

And shootings and violent crime are at a really low level.
What has really changed is the fact that now we can even see violent acts AS THEY HAPPEN.

Combine that with the "if it bleeds, it leads" attitude in news media, and no wonder the average viewer is afraid.

[Caliman73]

11. No argument there.

The trend has been downward for a long time. I am aware of the trends, even in with shootings going down while reporting on shootings has increased over 400%.

Like I said, my lean is toward mitigating the societal factors that correlate with increased probability of violence. Poverty, substance use, disconnection from society, feelings of alienation and powerlessness, etc...

I actually think that the average person is stressed out and like you said, the media's proclivity and business strategy of reporting sensational stories about violence and tragedy add to that stress greatly.

It is however, pretty easy to get a gun and I live in California where it is harder to get one than in many many other states. I could go to the local Big 5 (about a mile a way) and buy a shotgun, hunting rifle, or even a mini-14 or mini-30, wait my 10 days, and go pick it up without any hassle. Handguns are not sold at Big 5 but there is a least one gun store locally and a lot of FFLs that will accept a transfer from out of state. If I had sinister intentions, there would not be a lot of deterrents.

[maxsolomon]

10. We have more, around 1/week.

What is common to all nations is Homicidal Male Rage. What is not as common is the number of semi-automatic weapons per capita.

And yes; Honduras, Afghanistan, etc.

[lunatica]

12. It's the access to weapons, not the country which is the

deciding factor in mass shootings.

People all over the world are the same. We aren’t better or worse than anyone else.