American physicians consider the US gun violence a social disease. Mass murders of citizens by other citizens occur here with a frequency seen in no other nation in the world.
The mass murders in Colorado and the racist mass homicides in Wisconsin and Connecticut are illustrative of a type of tragedy for which the U.S. holds a near monopoly. The background facts speak for themselves.
First, the U.S. is awash in firearms. There are roughly 300 million guns in American households (per capita a gun for every citizen - this is the highest concentration in the world).
Second, the National Rifle Association (NRA) has a hugely powerful lobby that has been able to stop nearly any national debate on the issue.
Third, the U.S. has a history of hideous, omnipresent racism that has spawned a proliferation of hate groups among some white Americans -- citizens who have a very deluded, paranoid sense of victimization.
Fourth, massive inequality and poverty, long present in communities of color, has started to impoverish the ranks of hitherto comparatively prosperous Euro-Americans.
Fifth, there are 58 million Americans with significant mental problems (1 in 5).
Sixth, there has been a severe decline in mental health facilities (for this we can thank President Reagan: as California governor he systematically closed mental hospitals, and later as president he cut aid for federally funded community mental health programs).
Seventh, we have an arms industry, opting for profit over humanity, that makes billions each year on the sale of arms to hate-filled racists, the mentally ill and the general public.
With massive numbers of guns available in the US to the mentally ill, the race haters, the drug deranged, the people haters, and with huge inequalities, a lot of innocent citizens will be shot on a regular basis.
But we also need to look at the recent history of the arms business in the nation. At the end of World War II the Allies had a huge surplus of still very usable guns. There was no ready market anywhere for these firearms but in the U.S., as no other large and wealthy nation would have them within their borders. Even more weapons became available in the 1950s, when NATO forces changed to uniform cartridges and relinquished a stockpile of outmoded rifles. These also flooded the U.S., were imported very cheaply, often at less than $1 apiece, and could be sold at a huge profit, but still inexpensive for a purchaser - the rifle that killed President Kennedy cost $12.78.
Massive imports of weapons took place at a time when the country was in the midst of serious political crises, which often incited violence. All this was with massive advertising by the NRA on the joys of gun ownership. A typical ad of the era read, "MORE FUN ... with YOUR GUNS ... the Year Around!"
However, also needed is an answer to the phenomenon of the young American white male misanthrope who hates and kills. Is it just untreated mental illness? If so, why is it affecting mostly young white males? Or are these crimes also largely drug induced? More analysis is needed on this tragic phenomenon, particularly from the perspective of the "Marxist" theory of alienation, whereby some citizens become estranged from their own humanity.
In the meantime, to protect US Citizens there needs to be a "National Commission on Hate Crimes and Mental Health;" the tightening of gun laws; a huge reduction of public access to guns; banning of advertising and sales of the most lethal guns, assault weapons, etc.; national restoration of the mental health system; and a banning of huge ammo clips -- and that is just for starters.
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