I think it's the bullying in schools. With the Virginia Tech shooting, that kid was an outcast and wanted "to get back at...". It's the bullies that just ruin any self-sonfidence someone has. It takes a strong person to overcome the bullies and become a better person from it!

In my opinion, those people are cowards, and/or are abused at home or at school. They seem to take constant abuse, and are subject to terrible forms of school bullying. They think that the only way to be noticed besides being abused, is to lash out at people, which usually ends up with someone getting hurt. There was a book I read on psychology that said a shocking 100% of serial killers were abused as children.

I've sadly contemplated it but then I saw violence wasn't the way i should deal with things. The reason is problems a person has being projected onto other people that causes this impulse.

What would qualify as rehashed rhetoric? You make it a little risky to answer <smile>. It is a combination of factors including: Anger ... and the notion that we have some inherent right to express it in public. Some say, bullies, but there have always been bullies and some of us who were bullied in school grew up to be pretty well adjusted and didn't take out our frustrations on others. Video games, movies, and music that depict violence sympathetically. Mental illness and intensifying stress factors. Loss of community. Moral relativism as an accepted philosophical option. Population growth. There really is not a rash of these things, but the larger the population, the more the aberrations and ... Media coverage and romanticizing of violent people creates two situations: (1) We hear about these incidents quickly and (2) There seems to be a copycat factor. In speaking of the media, I am not just referring to conventional media, but including the Internet and the capacity for every Tom, Dick, and Harry to self-publish. Narcissism as something to be seen in a favorable light. Our society's recent preoccupation with gore as exemplified in the popularity of the CSI programs (Nothing wrong with them; they just factor in). Beyond that, i just don't know - It boggles the mind, and I prefer it that way. This SHOULD NOT be understood by many. It would eliminate the shock value of such abhorrent behavior.

Broken homes, where there is not a man and woman parent present to lead and take care of their children. a single parent home can sometimes be a breading ground for children not to receive the psychological care and medications, they need. Let also look at domestic violence and the effects it has on babies, that grow to be young adults and are not tested for psychological effects of people fighting in their presence. Soon or later, this anger builds to an explosive height and BINGO you have your typical school shootings and family assaults. Most of the time, it begins right in their home and their family lifestyle. some take it out on their family. some take their anger out on teachers and fellow students. Domestic violence is a killer, in more ways than one.

It seems to me that I hear a lot of "mentally unstable" thrown around when there are these shootings, and it seems that you also hear a lot that there were many signs, or there were diagnosis' of mental health problems that were allowed to go untreated for either just a period of time or always. People can't afford the price of therapy/meds, or they are so ashamed of it that they don't do what they should, and this needs to change. One thing with this kid in Ohio....the news made a point of saying he was a Marilyn Manson fan and was wearing a Marilyn Manson tshirt at the time. What the hell does that have to do with anything?

The decline in the prevelance of the traditional nuclear family and traditional family values. This idea that if it feels good and you want to do it then it must be O.K. The weakening of morality will always have detrimental consequences.

I think it's a combination. 1.Ineffective parenting and lack of involvement in our children's lives. We don't teach our children to deal with their negative feelings and impulses. Nor do we take the time to find out what is goping on in their lives. 2.The rise in mental illness and the use of drugs to treat it and ADD without therapy. You feed a child a drug and the whole chemistry of the brain changes. Kids on Ritalin are some of the most violent children I have ever come across. 3.The desensatization and glorification of violence and it's consequences through the media. As children see more violence they come to see it as normal to act out in such a way. 4.The steady incease in the brutality of bulling. It used to be you could get away from it. Now it follows you home. Even the computer is being used as way to bully our children. As parents we need to step up to the plate and start being involved will before a problem has mainifested.

The answer is simple and complex at the same time. The gun culture of the U.S. seems out of kilter with people in the UK. We have very strict controls on gun ownership, our police are not armed (except for specialist reasons). Whenever I bring up this issue with Americans, they seem so intent in defending their rights as laid down in a 250 year old piece of paper. I argue, that as a nation matures, laws can be adjusted to fit the times we live in, but the only argument I get is 'We have the right to bear arms' Some will argue that they only possess guns for protection or hunting reasons, yet, noone in the UK seems to have this fascination for the reasons given. Are we in Europe more mature than our American cousins? I have yet to hear one credible argument for wanting to own a gun. It is for some false sense of protection or for a purely selfish reason such as target shooting or hunting, both seem frivolous to me.

The media covers it too much. There are tens of millions of high school students, and with them a homocide rate, and the news media covering it too much. My advice: Don't watch the news. They're just a damn bunch of clowns obsessed with the negative and the content is poor.

I'll tee off from tomsims fine answer (http://www.answerbag.com/a_view/1510833), in which he lists a bunch of factors to consider when trying to understand these incidents. But I think there's something else to point to also -- a sort of "big bucket" which includes most of these factors and then some, an organizing principle which is present in almost everything Tom said, hidden between the lines like background music in a horror film: "We can't find the Whole" Not just these mixed up violent kids, but most of us. The kids are just one of the most extreme examples of the phenomenon -- the "lost in isolated pain" state of being, in which a human being cannot locate themselves in the Universe in a way which allows them to experience being at home, being satisfied, being productive, being loved, being who they are... in short, being WHOLE. That's the background theme I hear: "we can't find the Whole". And in that dissociative hell, all manner of evil is done -- in the name of revenge, in the name of ego, in the name of "getting what's mine", in the name of protecting ourselves from "them", in the name of getting ahead, or not falling behind, or making others feel the pain that WE feel. The variations on the theme are endless, but all the songs are played on the same mistuned and broken instrument. Why can't we find the Whole? The ultimate answer is simple: like the fish, we can't see the water we swim in -- life is already whole, but we can't see that -- we're committed to our ideas about how things SHOULD be, and hold ourselves at a distance from how things ARE. This separation leaves us unable to taste the Whole, we can't get our tongues close enough to sample the flavor of it. And being separated like that, we get the notion that maybe the Whole is "out there" somewhere: in the future, or in some other relationship than the one we have, or in a different job, or in getting rid of the problems we have, or in getting more money, or in being more admired -- something, anything -- anything other than just this, here and now, life simply as it is exactly. Sometimes we "wake up" a bit, and we CAN see the Whole for a few seconds or a few minutes, and we appreciate the infinite interplay of life just being itself, with us an integral part of that. But then that experience fades from view, becomes a memory of "that profound moment" 10 years ago.... and meanwhile we return to the struggle of trying to get somewhere other than where we always ARE. So these kids have a very bad case of the same disease we all have: believing that life as it is cannot possibly be the Whole. And they shoot people as a manifestation of the pain of that separation from their own true self.

1) Guns availability 2) "Switzerland is frequently cited as an example of a country with high gun ownership and a low murder rate. However, Switzerland also has a high degree of gun control, and actually makes a better argument for gun regulation than gun liberalization." "Despite these regulations, Switzerland has the second highest handgun ownership and handgun murder rate in the industrialized world." "Country Handgun Murder Rate (per 100,000) -------------------------------------------------------- United States 5.28 Switzerland 1.42 Canada 0.47 Sweden 0.42 Australia 0.07 United Kingdom 0.06 Japan 0.05 By contrast, Germany, France, Canada, Great Britain and Japan have virtually banned handguns and assault weapons to the general public. " Source and further information: http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/L-switzerland.htm

Well, I don't think it is any form of gun problem at all. It's a problem with the PEOPLE. Not with guns.

the gov't.,is to be blamed for this.they have taken away the rights from parents to spank their own kids. this is mainly the cause for bad behaviour in school.go back to the time when a child messed-up,they get spanked home/school and they always promise to be a better person.today parents are being hated for telling their children to do the right thing.

Children don't get the time, attention and love they once did. In 2 parent homes many times both are working, people move all over the place so the extended families are not there to help guide and love the children. School can be a fabulous place to learn, make friends and to taste the experiences life has to offer. It's also very self-focused and harsh, cruel at times. It is much easier to 'hide away from the world', make your own rules to some extent as an adult than as a youngster. OK, so now we have a mal-adjusted teen experiencing angst. What do they see? The havoc, attention, drama and tragedy of school shootings splashed across the media. Wow, finally the attention and recognition they have been craving! They won't even have to deal with the aftermath if they shoot themselves! Hey, it's even more challenging now, look at all the measures They are putting into place to stop this. The teen would be called clever, too. What a statement to the world.

american gun laws, they are far too easy to get hold of. they need to seriously consider a total ban. also i thing the youth of today is highly influenced by very wrong role models e.g the music industry with their so called gangsta rappers

If I am not mistaken, the shooters have been found to have a common theme....they felt emotionally distanced from their parents. (I'm not saying it was the parents fault - just that it was the shooters perception). A sense of being abandoned begets anger and resentment...which generalizes. Now add Tomsins answer. It is complex.....but mental illness is rampant in our society.

Kids have no fear of punishment or remorse for their actions. Most have no compassion for anyone elses feelings or lives, that coming from both ends the kids doing the bullying & the kids being bullied. It scares me to death sending my child to school, they were on lockdown Monday because someone found a bullet in the bathroom. I hate sending my child to school any more, I want to keep him home with me but I know I would just mess him up mentally & socially by making my fears his fears. I can remember when I was in school the worst thing we had to fear was getting caught smoking or getting caught sending notes in class. I can't imagine how kids feel these days wondering if someones got ahold of their stoned parents gun or even better the stupid a$$ parents that by their kids 100 guns for educational purposes but have no desire to educate their children once they hand them these weapons. (like the woman last week in Ohio). And the school said they weren't in immediate danger(after the kids tried to recruit another kid for a colobine style massacre). I don't get it, personally I think they need to punish the parents just as harshly as they will the kids maybe then some of the parents would start watching their kids a lil closer until its too late. I'm still in shock that woman bought that kid all those guns & a hand granade, I know they said they were alot of bee bee guns but there was also pistols but no immediate threat.....???

Because the people have allowed the Gov: to over rule them and take away their rights to disiplent their children. And teach them right from wrong, with out being on trial by the Gov: themselfs.

The root cause is the fact that guns and killing people are both at the very heart of the origins of US society. The country wouldn't exist in its current form without firearms, which allowed the early settlers to take whatever they wanted from the indigenous population. The government decision to enshrine the right to bear arms in the Constitution was made far too long ago for it ever to be changed, so I'm afraid that the US just has to live with both the positive and negative aspects of widespread gun ownership.