Following the recent mass shooting in Charleston, South Carolina, on June 17, 2015—a racially motivated act of domestic terrorism—President Barack Obama delivered a sobering address to the American people. With a heavy heart, President Obama spoke the day following the attack, stating:
At some point we as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries. And it is in our power to do something about it. I say that recognizing that politics in this town foreclose a lot of those avenues right now. But it would be wrong for us not to acknowledge.
President Obama was primarily referring to gun control in the portion of his speech addressing the cause of attacks like this. Not all mass shootings are racially motivated, and not all qualify as “terrorist” attacks—though Charleston certainly qualifies. And the mass shooting that occurred a just a month later in Chattanooga, Tennessee, by a Kuwati-born American citizen was quickly labeled an act of domestic terrorism. But, President Obama makes an important point here: Mass shootings are a distinctly American problem. This type of rampage violence happens more in the United States than anywhere else. And gun control is a significant part of the problem. But, gun control is only a partial explanation for mass shootings in the U.S.
[For more of this story, written by Tristan Bridges and Tara Leigh Tober, go to http://www.psmag.com/books-and...can-men-so-dangerous]
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