Mass shootings

[*Wyche'sWarrior*]

(02-23-2018, 11:27 AM)Belsnickel Wrote: I don't think it is just a racial or ethnic breakdown. I think a lot of it has to do with an overall cultural difference that exists within our country. Now, Australia isn't tiny, but their population is more condensed on the coasts than ours is. We are a very widespread population with many different cultural identities, even within racial and ethnic demographics. This isn't to say that other countries don't have this, as well. I look to Germany for an example, because there is a sizable cultural difference between someone in Schlesswig-Holstein and someone in Bayern, and even within those states. So there is cultural diversity in other countries, but when you compound that with our country being relatively young, with our size, with our two-party system, it makes it interesting. Adding to that you have the fact that the American cultural identity itself doesn't exist as we like to pretend it does. We are a country which is made up almost entirely by descendants of immigrants that for many generations stuck to their own communities as much as possible.

I don't have a ton of time this morning, or I could go on and on about this. You're right, it is our diversity that makes this difficult to really nail down, but it is because of so many factors it could make your head spin. When I look at policy solutions, these are things we actually have to take into account. I would love it if I could look at policy in a quantitative way only and that would work. But that's not our system, that's not our society, that's not our cultures. We have to take into account all of these different things when we look at how policy will be perceived. For a city it's one thing, for a state it's another. Doing it at the federal level? No thank you. I don't want that job.

TOTALLY agree with this.  Admittedly, my post was condensed....a Cliff Notes, if you will.  I just wanted to use raw numbers to illustrate the barrage of thoughts that raced through my mind last night, and get some outside thoughts on them.  I didn't want to bore you guys with some huge diatribe.