Discussion Do you think if we allowed assisted suicide mass shootings would go down?

[BornToFail]

?

 

[Felix007]

i think if we severely restricted access to handguns etc, mass shootings would go down...
also, i think these people who decide to kill others before killing themselves, would probably continue doing so even if suicide was legal. they would still do it because of their pentup anger towards society i guess..

 

[Pluto]

Mass shootings get a lot of publicity but are relatively small in number. The majority of US firearm deaths are suicides.

 

[whatevs]

Mass shootings get a lot of publicity but are relatively small in number. The majority of US firearm deaths are suicides.

I'm pretty sure also that gang or organized crime violence also accounts for far more fatal shootings that angry lonely men going on a rampage.

 

[Chinaski]

If somebody has a firearm they already have instant access to suicide.

 

[Celerity]

No, I don't think there is enough overlap in personality between the two groups.

You can find similar threads in our pathologies - self-loathing, social isolation, traumatic childhoods, and misanthropy namely - but suicidal people differ greatly in their response to these triggers. While the mass shooter's response is to try to get even (as if such a thing could be done and as if their misguided slaying could do so), suicidal people seek an escape.

If they didn't commit mass shootings, I have to imagine these men would still cause trouble and abuse others in their lives. Indeed, many of the mass shooters have histories of domestic violence.

If somebody has a firearm they already have instant access to suicide.

Agreed. They already have all they need. Access isn't the problem here. They are motivated by much more than self-destruction.