The sheer number of variables responsible, or potentially responsible, for making someone snap is so huge that trying to control them all is futile. This particular incident involved homosexuals and Islam in some proportion. Some previous incidents also involved Islam to some extent, but not the majority or even a very large minority. Of the rest, there is no discernible pattern beyond youngish, very angry men. Mostly white, but not exclusively (Seung Hui Cho, the Fort Hood guy). And one more thing, which is obviously crucial: they all had access to firearms, in spite of (generally) giving copious warning signs of emotional disturbance. That last variable seems the pertinent one; that this particular lunatic happened to dislike homosexuals more than black churchgoers or college students or kindergartners is a trivial distraction.
Of course, the majority of gun violence does not take the form of mass shootings anyhow; a quick Wiki suggests that about thirty were shot by others every single day of 2013, for a total of about eleven thousand dead. If you include suicides, it jumps to nearly a hundred per day. This shooting, like all the others, represents little more than a slight twitch in the statistics.
Of course, the majority of gun violence does not take the form of mass shootings anyhow; a quick Wiki suggests that about thirty were shot by others every single day of 2013, for a total of about eleven thousand dead. If you include suicides, it jumps to nearly a hundred per day. This shooting, like all the others, represents little more than a slight twitch in the statistics.
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