With gun violence and mass shootings happening essentially every day, there are a lot of debates over what actually causes these things to happen. Is it mental illness? Violent video games? Heavy metal music? Or is the answer as simple as guns?
Let's start with the things that definitely DON'T cause mass shootings...
1. Violent Video Games
I'm so tired of hearing baby boomers say that video games cause violence. In my whole life, I have never seen a person who was playing video games turn out to be a violent person because of the games that they were playing. Sure, they can cause temporary moments of anger and increased adrenaline, but do you know what also causes moments of anger and increased adrenaline? Math homework. And you don't see people saying that we need to ban math.
2. Heavy Metal Music
The same thing as above. Loud music does not cause violence. Sorry, boomers.
3. Poor Parenting
Blaming mass shootings on poor parenting is so lazy. There are thousands of people who have absent parental figures and guess what? They've never committed a mass shooting.
4. Lack Of Religion
I can't count on both hands the number of times I've seen someone say that mass shootings happen in part because prayer isn't allowed in school anymore. Lack of religion does not make someone a bad person, and it definitely does not make someone commit mass shootings.
5. Mental Illness
Blaming mass shootings on mental illness is just another way to stigmatize mental health. Just because someone has a mental illness, does not mean that they're going to commit a mass shooting, and to blame such a horrible problem on mental illness is part of the problem.
And now for the things that DO contribute to mass shootings...
1. Bigotry, Racism, and Homophobia
How many times has a mass shooter been a person with bigoted views? El Paso, Christchurch, Charleston...
2. Ignorance
This goes hand in hand with the above. Most of the time when someone doesn't like something, it'd because they don't understand it. If we just started educating everyone, mass shootings would most likely take a huge plummet.
3. Easy Access To Guns
I mean, come on. This one should be obvious, right? Wrong. Many people still believe that being able to buy a gun at the age of 18 (when the legal drinking age is 21) is perfectly fine.
4. The NRA
The NRA donates hundreds of thousands of dollars to politicians, making them change their stance on gun control quite literally every 12 seconds.
5. Selfishness
"Why should I have to give up my rights because someone else didn't follow the law?"
How many times have you heard that? I've heard it too many times. Many of the Americans who are against gun control are against it because they don't want to make any sacrifices, even if it would make our country safer.
