Is it possible that material self-interest maximization is playing a role? How much does the profit motive relate to what an industry, businesses within the industry and policy makers who receive funding from the industry (i.e. elected officials) impact what they are willing to do? That is, could it be that the gun industry (and its lobbyist and those who profit from a strong demand for guns) just can't let anything get in the way of the profit that can be derived from having widespread availability and unregulated sale and use of guns?
It's the System
Clearly the usual arguments have done little toward developing an understanding as to why we have a pattern of gun violence in U. S. society--which by the way is the most violent among OCED countries. Yet we seem unable to understand the system of causes of the pattern because we are unwilling to honestly look at how the society we've created contributes to this phenomenon as well as others. Our problem goes far deeper. Why don't we go there? Could it be that at some level those with the authority to affect fundamental change realize that what they believe and advance is no longer valid--what they know ain't so--and that they too will have to change?
If a system doesn't encourage and support something from happening it won't continue to happen!
Unfortunately policy makers don't appear to use both systems and statistical thinking, so they don't continue asking why are the trends we have in society, such as gun violence and mental illness manifesting? We must cease trying to do a better job of inspecting individual events and turn attention to the system that supports/promotes the events continuing.
Understand
Relationship
In their book The Spirit Level Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett discuss the strong positive correlation between income inequality by country and: the index of health & social problems; the index of child well being; children's experience of conflict; imprisonment; the percent of people with any mental illness; and the number of homicides per million. Negative correlation is shown between income inequality and social mobility and income inequality and level of trust. Each pairing shows the U. S. to be at the high end of positively correlated pairings and at the low end in negatively correlated pairings--not a good report card for America.
Although a correlation relationship does not imply cause-and-effect it suggest that the variables are linearly related. That is, as income inequality varies so too do these other societal characteristics--they aren't independent, they move together and so one may affect the other or both are influenced by the same cause or causes. An understanding of the causes of the patterns begins with an understanding of the patterns caused, and so additional analysis leading to deeper understanding is needed.
We
need to change
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