Has the USA gone totally crazy?

The US homicide rate is lower than it was in the 1970s-1990s period so they must have been even crazier then. Also the gun laws are obviously far from the only issue they have, there are the major problems with poverty and inequality which itself is probably a contributor to gun violence and homicide.

Also, road deaths are much higher than deaths from homicide and much higher than road deaths in most European countries. Ireland 2.9 road deaths per 100k population, US 12.9 per 100k. Yet there isn't a thread every second day on this website about the tens of thousands killed on US roads every year.

These crime waves happen every 50-60 years in the United States.

Road collisions are not referred to as accidents anymore, they may not be "deliberate" but very often extreme recklessness is involved. Thousands of innocent lives are lost every year yet seemingly nobody on boards.ie is interested.

If you live in the US you are more likely to be killed on the roads than murdered.

If you live in a decent area and are not involved in criminality, you are much more likely to be killed on the road than murdered.

And being murdered in a mass shooting is uncommon as only a minority of murders are the result of mass shootings.

Excluding suicides, about 6000 people have been killed in gun violence so far this year in the US, 248 of those were killed in mass shootings.

Recklessness is one thing but unless your going out to deliberately kill someone with your vehicle it can not be compared to the deliberate action of mass shooting the public. Every traffic fatality is tragic and needless but mass shootings are senseless.

There is something disturbing that gun laws are more important than someone murdering a 5 year old in a shooting spree with an automatic rifle.

To be honest the gun thing does happen here, albeit not that young but we do have numerous gun clubs and people from a young age do go hunting with family and friends. It's fair to say it's well controlled with both having to go through a huge vetting process and be a member of a club.

We better watch out then.

We tend to copy the yanks and the Brits in many aspects of our own society. Our obesity and mental health problems are soaring in this country too.

To that I have just two words: Joe Manchin. On top of that, I'd hazard a guess that there's maybe 10 Democratic Senators who represent states that are nearly as conservative as his (West Virginia) in one way or another, and that's even before you factor in any Representatives in the same boat.

Taking measures to make sure our society doesn't repeat any mistakes made in US society isn't obsession. It's just sensible. Who the hell wants this mayhem to arrive on our shores? And it very well could if we don't get a handle on the root causes. Because this is human behaviours.

Since you make so many threads on here covering violence in the US, what is your opinion on the underlying causes? At least if you were "monitoring" this stuff with an eye towards better understanding it... that might have some utility. Rather than just enjoying posting about disaster porn for it's entertainment value!

I have an interest in these incidents, not as rubber necking bystander, but rather because it's a very peculiar type of motivation that drives it. The desire to harm innocent people in large numbers. I don't think it's helpful to drive a wedge between people along ideological or political lines, as very often happens in the US. I think this is just an unhelpful sideshow.

Big surprise you've zero interest in actually trying to understand the issues involved.

You're obsessed with disaster porn. And pushing a particular narrative.