Why don’t mass shootings happen more often outside of the United States?

Grant J. Kidney — When James Holmes shot up a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, a huge debate over the right to bear arms had ensued. Everything from mind control to a totalitarian measure on part of the UN to ban weapons globally were hot button items that folks from both ends of the political spectrum had been furiously disputing.

Whilst its true that many mysteries surround the case of James Holmes and others who had committed mass shootings, one issue that is barely given any attention is that of why mass shootings don’t occur as frequently as they do in the United States in other parts of the world.

Gun rights are not just exclusive to the United States

The U.S. was built upon the notion of gun ownership, this much is clear. The right to bear arms is an essential liberty that safeguards citizens from the build up of immense power in the halls of government. In Hitler’s third reich, private gun ownership was banned. Immediately following the ban, the SS started rounding folks up and shipping them off to the concentration camps.

But contrary to public belief, private gun ownership is not a right exclusive to the United States. In Switzerland, folks own guns as well- yet Switzerland boasts one of the lowest of crime rates in the world. Why is this? Are the Swiss just ‘better people’ than we are here in the United States? Well, maybe not ‘better’, but certainly ‘better off’ it could be argued.

The Swiss enjoy their right to bear arms, yet crime is astoundingly low in their country.

In conjunction with the Swiss’ rights to bear arms, they also have the right to an affordable education, affordable healthcare, and other such amenities that keep the social fabric from unraveling. In the United States, there is little emphasis on the right to a decent life that one would no doubt come to expect living in a society that has been to the moon and back. Not only is higher education a provable scam as well as an ‘industry’ in the United States, but so is healthcare, housing, etc., etc., etc.

Note: Make no mistake, this is an author who abhors state power to the fullest extent. Whilst my advocacy of a healthy public safety net may seem to contradict such, all makes perfect sense when viewed through the lens of a resource based economy (RBE). In a RBE, the needs of all people everywhere are adequately and equally met using the best technology available to our species. There is no money, war, poverty, or politics in a resource based economic model. Rather, all the world works together for the common good. 

How austerity fosters violence

One week before James Holmes sprayed bullets into the bodies of twelve innocent movie-goers, he was looking to move into a new place to live. Holmes was faced with eviction from his apartment, presumably because he couldn’t make rent. At a time when rent costs are skyrocketing nationwide, Holmes soon found himself beholden to the overarching, dog-eat-dog model of civilization which slaps a huge price tag upon the right to shelter.

Holmes, a 24 year old college student, probably felt immense pressure knowing that he’d be in debt for the rest of his life, paying off an education that should have otherwise been provided absolutely free of charge. Now, not everybody who suddenly realizes that they will be a slave to the banks up until the day they die go on a shooting rampage. But for some folks, particularly the prescription medicated like James Holmes, this crushing reality is a hard pill to swallow. For these people, it would seem that death- either their own or that of others- is the only way out.

When analyzing mass shootings and other such criminal phenomena, the effects of environment upon the psychological make up of the mass-mind is a very important factor to take into account. In a society as cut-throat as what is evident in the United States, it is no wonder that crime flourishes in the most impoverished of neighborhoods. Most crime, it can be argued, is based upon scarcity. If one’s access to abundance is cut off, one will inevitably do all it takes to procure the resources needed to survive- even if it means shoplifting or holding up a convenience store.

In the United States, 1 in 2 are now said to be living in impoverished conditions- and over fifty million souls collecting food stamps. Over the past thirty years, the gap between the haves and the have-nots has increased by a factor of over 275%. If such conditions don’t prove ripe for a wave of criminal violence to occur, I’m not sure what would.

So are people in other countries basically safe from mass shootings? It depends on the country in focus. I used the example of Switzerland above- but even Switzerland isn’t safe from the austere-based banker take over of the planet. All across Europe, deep and devastating cuts to the budget have been implemented- and this has led to riots on par with nothing ever before seen. Conditions in the Eurozone are so terrible in fact that some are now killing themselves just to escape the tough times ahead- perhaps a validation of my earlier point which suggested that money-based woes will invariably result in the death of one’s self or others.

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