Oh, no! I agree with everything that you are saying, however, what I am sad about is that we got to this point. You know, I don't really feel that this is happening all that much more then it ever did, but, the 24 hour news services are taking things and running, first without really knowing what they are talking about, but, in the process are scaring the bejessus out of people, when you consider the number of people in this country, the poor shape of our health programs that allow "crazy" people to just roam the streets, buy weapons, etc. Or the brain dead parents that allow someone with issues access to guns, it's a wonder it doesn't happen more often.
In Canada, when you take into consideration the size of the population and the fact that they are spread out so much more then here in the states, I wonder if the ratio is all that different. If it is, it is probably because of the fact that they are able to get treatment regardless of their economic status that helps keep some of it at bay. I certainly do not have the answers, as I think there are many factors involved, but, I know that Canadians are allowed to purchase guns so it's not that part of it to any large degree.
It was nice for most of us, back in the old days, when we were totally unaware of probably 90% of the violence that was taking place. For example, back in 1963, two seniors from our local Catholic High School, went out one Sunday and killed a car salesman with a car jack just to take a joy ride. That happened in a very small town of Plattsburgh, N.Y., just 20 miles from the Canadian border. I'll bet no one outside of Plattsburgh ever heard about it and it was horrendous. It was a complete shock to the community, but, it affected zero others outside of that area because no one knew about it. There were no "copycat" incidents because others didn't even know it happened. Sometimes I think that today's wide open communication is a major factor in a lot of the violence, whether we want to admit it or not.