comment: >
  
  There's one pretty clear constant when it comes to gun violence in the US: an overabundance of guns. If we want to tackle gun violence, we have to address the absolutely insane number of guns our citizens possess.
context: As a millennial who was in high school when columbine happened, I thought I was part of the mass shooting generation. I never imagined it would get as bad as it has. Fuck every politician who sits on their hands while our kids die. >
  
  I live in Colorado, which at this point is like the poster child for mass shootings.  There have been three mass shootings that made national news since I moved here.  I lived in Aurora for a while - you can guess what people's first reaction was when I told them that.
  It's fucking insane.  I've been lucky, my closest connection to a mass shooting was when a couple coworkers visited the Boulder King Sooper less than 24 hours before the shooting there, and a bunch of people texted me concerned because it's close to my office.  I was also within a couple blocks of the Planned Parenthood shooting when it happened.  Thankfully, nobody I know was hurt. But damn, it's horrible.
  While gun violence has many factors to be addressed, I think the phenomenon of mass shootings in particular has one major factor that sets it apart:
  Right wing radicalization.
  This isn't suicide due to unavailability of mental health care.  This isn't drug related violence.  This is a bunch of people radicalized online by far right propaganda and incel forums.  Until we figure out a way to eliminate those things, no amount of gun laws will make a difference. >
  
  I'm sorry hear about your closeness to this issue. But I value your perspective, and I very much agree.
  Myself, I don't have a problem with guns. Being around one or around someone with one doesn't make me one iota uncomfortable. They say "guns don't kill people, people kill people" - I think that's right. And those people right now are the radicalized right wingers. We really have to put a stop to this right wing radicalization. I have no idea how.... >
  
  
  They say "guns don't kill people, people kill people" - I think that's right. 
  
  And yet people without guns don't mass shoot people. Weird how they works. >
  
  Yeah, they just mass kill by other means, like in Nice. But I guess those deaths don't matter. >
  
  Mass killing is significantly harder without a gun. In fact, it's so hard to do that when it does happen, people remember it for years to come, like the stabbings in Nice. This is an example of "the exception that proves the rule."
  There's no reason to be obtuse here. In the modern day, mass killing is realistically only done with guns. This is a fact regardless of how you feel about guns and gun control. >
  
  
  Mass killing is significantly harder without a gun.
  
  Not really. Nice is just one example. Bombing and vehicles are easy to employ. >
  
  Evidently they are less easy to employ than guns? >
  
  ^
  
  “I think we have an opportunity, even in a Republican Congress, to pass legislation that can help get money for community violence intervention programs that help end gun violence before it even happens,” he said.
  He further insists that any prospective legislation needs to have a mental health component.
  “Folks with serious mental health issues are often scapegoated as the reason why there’s gun violence,” Frost says. “But as someone who’s been doing the work, when you look into the numbers, having a serious mental health issue doesn’t make you more likely to shoot someone. It actually makes you more likely to be shot.”
  Frost intends to keep the pressure on both Republicans “who sweep the deaths of children under the rug” and on members of his own party who have been otherwise disinclined to take bold action. “I’d venture to say that gun control is the slowest-moving issue in the federal government that has the most media coverage when something happens,” he says. “I have to be the consistent voice.”
  
  Article continues.. >
  
  Most of that is true. But it's not folks with serious mental illness. To be sure,  mental illness definitely plays a role. Lack of care options, stigmas, and undiagnosed mental health problems are absolutely part of the problem. But what we really see far more is a correlation between poverty and gun violence. It's got to be the most reliable correlation. >
  
  Please don't conflate the two things like everyone loves to to fit their story. Poverty and gun violence and crime as a whole are definitely correlated. But when we talk about school shootings, Mall shootings, black church shootings, sikh temple shootings, gay club shootings, supermarket shootings, that's a different topic