America’s greatest export is war. we’re a very violent nation. every generation since the founding has had a major conflict to attend - but most of our wars in the last 30 years or so havent involved a lot of “boots on the ground”. that pent up rage requires an outlet. mass killings/shootings/etc are a direct result.
adding to that, handguns are very easy to obtain - you can legally purchase them easily enough but there’s also a very active black market where cash is king and questions are not asked, backgrounds are not checked. since Americans are legally permitted to own/carry firearms (as enshrined in our founding governmental documents), the system cannot change. it’s not politically acceptable to request a change. no career politician is going to burn their entire life’s work in something that is destined to fail. even considering is is borderline insane.
The Internet and modern media. We’re constantly blasted with stuff that makes us feel shitty because we don’t have this or that, but someone else does, or companies are telling you that no one will like you if you don’t buy their product.
Before the internet, everyone’s lives weren’t on display for the whole world to see and the only people you had to compare yourself to were those in your community.
We’ve had guns for 200 years but not ones capable of mass shootings. Semiautomatics only became widely available more recently, and most countries have since banned them from casual use but not the USA
No the most common definition is the one used by gun violence archive, as an event where four or more people are killed or injured (not including the shooters). Different organizations may have different definitions. How many people “witness it” isn’t used by any to the best of my knowledge.
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