Has 2015 been the year of the mass shooting?

I brought this up the other day, but you have to look at each of these instances as specific events and what was involved.

The WP is playing a game and juggling terminology trying to make each of these events seem like a "rampage shooting" like the one in Oregon as compared to what they are.

A drive by shooting (criminal activity) with a specific goal where 4 people are shot (not killed) is a Mass Shooting (correction to the statement in main post) whereas Mass Killing is 4 people have been killed. An instance where a family member shoots up his own house then himself, is a mass shooting. These aren't generally "reported" because they don't cause the same emotional reaction.

That said, they have not statistically affected the (Gun) Violence trend (Decline) in the US over the last 30 years. It has been a steady decline. These are Isolated incidents, which are emotionally jarring, but they are isolated. It's a big nation. Things like this happen in a nation of 320M. It sounds cold, but just because something is scary, doesn't mean it is statistically relevant.

Within days of the shooting in Oregon, an 11 year old boy shot an 8 year old girl over a puppy...Folks, we've gone off the rails.

It isn't guns. If you want to talk sheer volume, we've come a long way since the days when you carried a rifle, shotgun or pistol, same as we carry cell phones today.

It's an attitude that embraces a general hopelessness and lack of accountability. It's children being raised to question everything and believe in nothing. It's a society whose values have become so eroded, life itself is of little consequence.

This only stops when we realize monsters are made, not born...It starts when we threaten parents for punishing unruly kids and ends when a person who has never been made to conform decides they have an "excuse" to exact their own ruthless, soul-less vengeance on the innocent.

Question on this....it mentions this as being the deadliest year, but is it because of better data tracking, easier access to data through social media and 24hr news, or the fact that it used it's own definition instead of the FBI's which would definitely change the outcome. If memory serves Chicago had 40 people shot over one weekend. I forget how many died, but in this case, and add in all the other large cities with high crimes with weapons, wouldn't this data be seriously flawed? We are powerless overall. Not in a negative sense though. We can influence through education and deeds, but in the end, it comes down to the individual to accept what is being taught and implement what was taught. Also outside influences are heavier with this generation than in ones past. I'll speak to mine. When I was a child, my parents personally knew who my friends were. There was no online buddies or stuff like that, so they held a stronger grip on me and what I did because more of it was seen by them. In todays world, you can chat, game, make friends, do whatever and not leave your bedroom. How does that work on interpersonal skills? Coping skills? Managing true crisis? When I was young, you get mad, you fight, you both go home. Now you get mad, grab a weapon and shoot everything in sight. Has America changed? No. has the ability to parent, be a mentor and a role model, along with the influx of technology changed the people yes. The genie is out of the bottle forever. But what we can do is manage through talking, and judicious application of laws how that genie gets used. This cannot be through the use of political parties, but through the use of congress and the presidents office as parents, and eyewitnesses to the tragedies that are hammering us today.