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VAMatt on 08 August 2019
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GoOnKid said:
VAMatt said:

I am American, and my level of concern, on a scale of 1-10 (with 1 being not at all concerned), is probably about a 2. And, my level of concern is elevated not because I think we have a mass shooting problem, but because I see a risk of overreaction based on media hype.  This thread really is evidence of the damage that media hype does.  There truly just isn't a significant problem.  Literally nobody in the US is scared of getting shot in a random-ish violence incident, but there are a bunch of people here with wild and crazy thoughts about gun violence in the US based purely on the outrageous stuff they've heard on the news and in Facebook posts.  

In any case, the statistic that you used is being thrown around a lot.  I obviously haven't studied every case.  But, as near as I can tell, they left out Italian Mafia-like organized crime, but included the less sophisticated corner street gang crime.  My sense is that there have been about 5 events, maybe 7 or 8, that actually fit the definition that people have in their heads when they think of "mass shooting". 

I guess this is exactly why nothing is ever going to change: you guys just don't care at all. I am honestly shocked about this behavior and I deeply hope that this mindset is only shared by a tiny minority.

Out if curiosity: how would you feel if someone close to you was shot in a situation like this, maybe your father. Would that change your perception?

I am as confident as I can be that my thinking would not change.  If my father got shot, I'd hope there was an armed person nearby to stop the shooter from getting to his next victim.  

Anyway, your comment, like so many others here, serves to demonstrate the innaccurate perceptions about the US that people seem to have.  

There simply is no mass shooting epidemic, if you use a realistic definition for mass shooting.  There's no problem to fix.