Reason For Mass Shootings : Multifactorial and Unpredictable

[Contumacious]

Running amok

However, efforts to profile mass shooters don’t support mental illness as a root cause. For instance, a 1999 publication by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) suggested a wide variety of risk factors for school shooters, including depression, alienation, narcissism, poor coping skills, low frustration tolerance, lack of trust, fascination with violence-filled entertainment, negative role models, low self-esteem, access to weapons, and the tendency to manipulate others. Such wide-ranging warning signs result in a profile that has reasonable sensitivity (mass shooters often do have multiple risk factors), but very poor specificity (the overwhelming majority of people who have those same risk factors do not become mass shooters). This sets up the problem of ‘false positives’ in which widespread screening would lead to the inappropriate identification of large proportions of the population. While some might find that reasonable, they might also feel very different if they or their child was among those identified at risk.

Mass shooters are almost exclusively white and male, but aside from that there is no one profile of the group. In defiance of stereotypes, most mass shooters are not psychotic, delusional, ‘crazy’, or ‘insane’. A 2002 US Secret Service report found that the majority of school shooters have had a history of ‘feeling extremely depressed or desperate’ (not the same as having a clinical diagnosis of major depression) and nearly 80 per cent had considered or attempted suicide in the past. Almost all had experienced a major loss such as a perceived failure, loss of a loved one or romantic relationship, or a major illness prior to the shooting, and about 70 per cent perceived themselves as wronged, bullied or persecuted by others. "


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[Contumacious]

Running amok

However, efforts to profile mass shooters don’t support mental illness as a root cause. For instance, a 1999 publication by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) suggested a wide variety of risk factors for school shooters, including depression, alienation, narcissism, poor coping skills, low frustration tolerance, lack of trust, fascination with violence-filled entertainment, negative role models, low self-esteem, access to weapons, and the tendency to manipulate others. Such wide-ranging warning signs result in a profile that has reasonable sensitivity (mass shooters often do have multiple risk factors), but very poor specificity (the overwhelming majority of people who have those same risk factors do not become mass shooters). This sets up the problem of ‘false positives’ in which widespread screening would lead to the inappropriate identification of large proportions of the population. While some might find that reasonable, they might also feel very different if they or their child was among those identified at risk.

Mass shooters are almost exclusively white and male, but aside from that there is no one profile of the group. In defiance of stereotypes, most mass shooters are not psychotic, delusional, ‘crazy’, or ‘insane’. A 2002 US Secret Service report found that the majority of school shooters have had a history of ‘feeling extremely depressed or desperate’ (not the same as having a clinical diagnosis of major depression) and nearly 80 per cent had considered or attempted suicide in the past. Almost all had experienced a major loss such as a perceived failure, loss of a loved one or romantic relationship, or a major illness prior to the shooting, and about 70 per cent perceived themselves as wronged, bullied or persecuted by others. "


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CA Shooting Reaction: Wrong Diagnosis, Wrong Treatment

Statists and authoritarians love events like the shooting in California. The bodies are not even cold when they start pushing their evil agendas: mosques must be spied on, we must give up our guns, learn to love big brother. The media plays the game, backing up the demands of the centralizers with non-stop propaganda and fear-mongering. Today’s Liberty Report looks at how a search for motive and a sense of proportion have been thrown out the window to serve other agendas:

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[waltky]

First time in more than 60 years...

Shootings now account for as many deaths in U.S. as traffic accidents
Saturday 19th December, 2015 - For the first time in more than 60 years, the death rate for Americans killed by firearms is as high as the mortality rate linked to motor-vehicle accidents.

New data released by the government's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that guns and car accidents each cause 103 deaths among every 1 million people. The two death rates were far apart for decades, but improved safety equipment in cars has drastically reduced the number of fatalities from motor-vehicle accidents. At the same time, the incidence of deaths caused by firearms is higher, the CDC said, but most of that increase is due to a rise in suicides involving guns.

Despite the converging mortality trends for firearms and automotive incidents, the biggest cause of Americans' deaths comes from medical ailments such as cancer and heart disease. The CDC said firearms and motor vehicles are among the leading non-medical causes of Americans' deaths each year. Guns and cars kill more people than those who die in falls, and considerably more than those who die as a result of alcohol abuse. Automobile deaths have dropped about 60 percent since the 1960s, due to the introduction of seat belts, air bags, antilock brakes and other technological aids for drivers, plus increased enforcement of prohibitions on driving under the influence of alcohol and advances in safe-roadway designs.

Regional differences illustrate the changes in mortality data linked to firearms. Ten years ago, only two of the 50 U.S. states - Alaska and Maryland - recorded more deaths due to guns than were caused by automobiles. However, The most recent figures available, for 2014, show 21 states had more gun deaths than auto fatalities. The District of Columbia, the nation's capital, had a higher rate of firearms deaths compared to car accidents throughout that period. It is easy and legal for the vast majority of people in the U.S. to buy guns, including assault rifles. That fact is regularly mentioned in the news with the country's string of mass killings - the latest earlier this month when a radicalized Muslim couple killed 14 people and wounded 22 others at a holiday party.

The National Rifle Association, a strong lobbying group, has been successful in blocking gun control regulation, despite calls by President Barack Obama for Congress to take action against certain types of gun sales. Some Americans maintain that the Second Amendment to the Constitution, which guarantees the right to bear arms, means there must be no restrictions. Other Americans say some restrictions are necessary in an attempt to cut down on the number of deaths by gunfire. The Second Amendment, ratified in 1791 as part of the Bill of Rights guaranteeing all Americans' 10 basic freedoms, says: "A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

Shootings now account for as many deaths in US as traffic accidents

 

[Old Rocks]

What is certain about mass shootings is that the are far easier to do in the US due to the nation being awash in guns, many of which were designed specifically for the killing of fellow human beings. And we have very few enforced rules for keeping these out of the hands of the crazies.

But the NRA and the gun nuts will continue to do their best to see that nothing is done, until something heinous even beyond Sandy Hook occurs. Then all hell is going to break loose, and you will see legislation at city, county, and state levels, and, finally, at federal levels, to remove the guns from those of doubtful mental stability, and prevent any of that nature from getting guns. And those laws will be the direct result of the insanity that we see here on these boards.

 

[Contumacious]

First time in more than 60 years...

Shootings now account for as many deaths in U.S. as traffic accidents
Saturday 19th December, 2015 - For the first time in more than 60 years, the death rate for Americans killed by firearms is as high as the mortality rate linked to motor-vehicle accidents.

New data released by the government's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that guns and car accidents each cause 103 deaths among every 1 million people. The two death rates were far apart for decades, but improved safety equipment in cars has drastically reduced the number of fatalities from motor-vehicle accidents. At the same time, the incidence of deaths caused by firearms is higher, the CDC said, but most of that increase is due to a rise in suicides involving guns.

Despite the converging mortality trends for firearms and automotive incidents, the biggest cause of Americans' deaths comes from medical ailments such as cancer and heart disease. The CDC said firearms and motor vehicles are among the leading non-medical causes of Americans' deaths each year. Guns and cars kill more people than those who die in falls, and considerably more than those who die as a result of alcohol abuse. Automobile deaths have dropped about 60 percent since the 1960s, due to the introduction of seat belts, air bags, antilock brakes and other technological aids for drivers, plus increased enforcement of prohibitions on driving under the influence of alcohol and advances in safe-roadway designs.

Regional differences illustrate the changes in mortality data linked to firearms. Ten years ago, only two of the 50 U.S. states - Alaska and Maryland - recorded more deaths due to guns than were caused by automobiles. However, The most recent figures available, for 2014, show 21 states had more gun deaths than auto fatalities. The District of Columbia, the nation's capital, had a higher rate of firearms deaths compared to car accidents throughout that period. It is easy and legal for the vast majority of people in the U.S. to buy guns, including assault rifles. That fact is regularly mentioned in the news with the country's string of mass killings - the latest earlier this month when a radicalized Muslim couple killed 14 people and wounded 22 others at a holiday party.

The National Rifle Association, a strong lobbying group, has been successful in blocking gun control regulation, despite calls by President Barack Obama for Congress to take action against certain types of gun sales. Some Americans maintain that the Second Amendment to the Constitution, which guarantees the right to bear arms, means there must be no restrictions. Other Americans say some restrictions are necessary in an attempt to cut down on the number of deaths by gunfire. The Second Amendment, ratified in 1791 as part of the Bill of Rights guaranteeing all Americans' 10 basic freedoms, says: "A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

Shootings now account for as many deaths in US as traffic accidents

SHOULD I BE DEPRIVED OF A CONSTITUTIONALLY PROTECTED ABSOLUTE RIGHT BECAUSE OF MY NEIGHBOR'S IRRESPONSIBILITY?

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[C_Clayton_Jones]

"Statists and authoritarians love events like the shooting in California. The bodies are not even cold when they start pushing their evil agendas: mosques must be spied on, we must give up our guns, learn to love big brother. The media plays the game, backing up the demands of the centralizers with non-stop propaganda and fear-mongering."

Delusional, paranoid, tin foil hatism, the stuff of loony conspiracy theories.

There is no 'evil agenda,' no one is advocating citizens 'give up' their guns; there is no 'big brother,' no 'centralizers,' and no 'propaganda' or 'fear-mongering' orchestrated by 'the media.'