...grip that violence has on society, particularly as an institutionally encouraged "solution" to so many problems....

I mean hell, this is a culture that allocates the majority of its available resources... to death! People internalize that -- and respond accordingly...

Get some tv commercial campaigns going to stigmatize gun ownership and use, social media campaigns designed to drive down the percentage of the country that owns guns, etc.

caused by a mistake with a gun.

The drunk driving rate has fallen even more than the murder rate over the past several decades.

Our Government needs to lead by example that violence solves nothing.

Society is not deteriating though people are the same as they have ever been.

a robust mental health care system that is part of a nationalized medical system so that anyone can utilize these services free of cost without stigmatization, these types of mass killings will continue.

We can go only so far with legislation. The same is true for bigotry and racism in this country. These are psychological problems whether within a single individual or the country's psyche as a whole.

You are right that this country double messages constantly. We want war & accept it far too easily. We want revenge, I mean, justice and are willing to execute far too easily. We want to lock up those city shadows all around us instead of helping them with compassion and justice. It is far too easy to imprison than it is to rehabilitate.

Again, that comes back to changing the national psyche. The only way to do that is to finally get a president that will stand up for those things. Then we elect a congress to implement national changes that must occur. As that takes place on a collective level, then, change will start occurring on a personal one.

Only my two cents as someone who has worked in the mental health field for pushing 30 years now.

part of the culture of violence- try telling people not to beat there kids, and be prepared to make a speedy exit through the back door.
we absolutely need to teach non-violent parenting. and that includes the psychological violence that is often substituted for physical violence.

i would bet my last dollar that you cant find a kid on the street corner with a gun that never got a beating, or saw his/her mother get beat.

dv perpetrators need to be prosecuted with or without the victims cooperation. then they need to hand over their guns.

Carl Jung
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/c/carljung165965.html#lRIzEOEpXqDVehm2.99

"i would bet my last dollar that you cant find a kid on the street corner with a gun that never got a beating, or saw his/her mother get beat"

- or father.

There are lots of ways to beat people. But our most spectacular failures do seem to come from those we start teaching hate to when they are very, very young.

We then absolve ourselves by saying they are crazy when they do what they do.

Yeah. Crazy. Sure. Or maybe just really good students of what we taught them.

Most seem to think that means being narcissistic but understanding this is healing.

Thank you, Don't call me Shirley.

then the world, if we as parents do not love ourselves?

Maybe in an exact ratio ....

Because Americans today aren't nearly as violent as they were 20, 40, or even 60 years ago.

Not that that makes your point wrong (we were militaristic back then too), but I think the dramatic drop in violence over the past generation is worth keeping in mind.

"I think the dramatic drop in violence over the past generation is worth keeping in mind."

As is the US homicide rate still among the highest in the industrialized world, despite the dramatic drop worth noting too.

"We're among the most violent people in the world, but not nearly as violent as we were 40 years ago" seems a Pyrrhic victory at best (as always, relevant context assures better aggregate accuracy).

Are we more like the UK or Brazil? Because our homicide rate is between theirs.