Thoughts on Mass Shootings

Things I know:

• We will never be able to prevent eruptions of gun violence by alienated and angry young men by identifying them and intervening in advance. There are just too many of them that show warning signs, and they are too impulsive. Claiming that this is a mental health problem leads us down a blind alley and will not lead to a solution.
• Our society is saturated guns, including hyper-lethal semi-automatic weapons with extended magazines. We could largely solve this problem by limiting their possession to licensed shooting ranges.
• We could license guns and gun ownership in a similar way to registering motor vehicles and licensing their use, requiring background checks and testing for knowledge of safety procedures and related laws and the ability to operate them.
• The current interpretation of the second amendment by the supreme court is illogical and grammatically incompetent.
• Responsibility for mass shootings and much of the plague of gun violence, including suicide by firearm, lies largely with the Republican party, AKA the party of cynics and suckers.
• Perpetrators of mass shootings have primarily been young, white, male and from rural communities, even those who, like the shooter in Buffalo, chose to drive to the city to commit their crimes.

What I wonder:

• I heard on the radio this morning someone from Uvalde Texas lament that people move to small towns like his to get away from the dangers of the big city. Isn’t the trope of the big bad city as a dangerous place a myth? I’m struck by the fact that young male products of our big cities aren’t the ones showing up as mass murderers on the news. Are small towns and even suburbs really safer, especially if you control for income and wealth? I don’t know the answer, but I would like to see some data. Can anyone help?