"Be good to each other"

I was having the same thoughts. I just posted in another thread that it seems everyone is so much meaner.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4999853

Easy access to guns escalates the level of harm done in an altercation. Guns allow a maximum reaction to some situation that could be resolved much more easily without harm to anyone.
Second, we as a nation have allowed ourselves to become too isolated from the world around us. When you get people to be isolated from one another, it's much easier to not view others as equals. Starting with that, it's much easier to view others as "less than you" or a threat of some sort.
I've lived and worked in some areas that were considered not safe for good people. I never had a problem. I won't say I didn't have more than a few constricted sphincter moments but it always came down to an " I'm not trying to screw you so just give me a break" sort of situation.
I don't know, mabey I'm just supremely lucky or my timing was good or I looked poor enough not to be worth a confrontation. I sure as hell wasn't a big assed muscular threat. I never weighed over 160lbs and exercise hasn't been an interest since I was 14.
I never felt the need to own a gun for protection and I managed to live for enough decades to start getting my SS.

to single out any one of these and then by fixating on it think that we have somehow solved the problem.

It is all of those things that you listed.

We need to get our shit together as a nation and come up with real solutions.

at all that most of the world sees as common sense and reasonable.

is an accepted first-response to wrongs or perceived wrongs...it is so sad.

no doubt about it. And the culture of violence/isolation etc that we've created is not very pretty. I don't know all the answers either, but maybe by identifying the factors we can start putting forward some comprehensive solutions.

helplessness many feel because our freedoms, liberties and wealth are being stolen in front of our eyes. We must elect representatives that are not beholden to Goldman-Sachs and Wall Street.

If I could pray to humanity, this would be the prayer.

Be good to each other, be sad for those affected.
Embrace all life with devotion to love, honor and respect.
Let no dark moment take precedence over peace and healing,
and let an unrealized understanding and the joy of living be our only purpose.

so i can't see anything being done even now.

actually the thing that probably most needs to be nipped in the bud. This is a worldwide phenomenon. People with mental illness are viewed as weak or defective, not as people who need medical help just as badly as someone with a broken leg does.