Knighton spends considerable ink debunking all of the typically hypothesized reasons for mass shootings including too many guns, the rise of concealed carry, and the mental health system. Then he states his own theory:
One thing we tend to find with mass shooters is that they tend to be domestic abusers. They’re angry people who lash out at even the people they say they love.
Yet what I’m suggesting is that at least part the reason they’re angry is that our society is filled with anxiety due to the media and politicians making every single issue into an existential crisis for the American public. The media, and not just the mainstream media but even yours truly, routinely beats the war drums over almost every issue and now we are at a complete impasse as a society, which only heightens the anxiety as no one is interested in trying to work things out anymore.
Couple that with the media also turning mass shooters into celebrities and you create a recipe for disaster.
Of course, this is just something I’ve come up with based on what I do and what I see and feel. For this to be definitive, it would require actual studies by real experts in the field, something I’m not. The problem is, I’m not sure I actually trust anyone will bother to even look and think about the causes of mass shootings.(I want to make a point about concealed carry. Before the modern era, all sorts of people carried small pistols in their pockets all the time. It was only with the criminalization of concealed carry in the 29th century that people stopped carrying for their own protection. In all fairness though, this was a time when the police became more professional, and prosecutors took a greater interest in street crime, making citizens safer than previously. But the police can not be everywhere, and no individual should rely on the police for their personal protection. That is what has spurred the modern concealed carry movement.)
Go read Knighton's article and see if you too don't think he is on to something.
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