The media is hands down to blame for this type of shit. I know that people are crazy and if they want to kill someone they will regardless of a weapon, or maybe even a reason, but there is such thing as a contagion effect.
It's happened with the media posting about suicides, and then more people commit suicides. It's happened with riots. Instead of the media posting about peaceful protests that are going on, they post the small group that is rioting, and then all of a sudden more people are out rioting. Now it is happening with gun violence. People who are dealing with bad mental illness, depression, and who are just overall seriously fucked in the head might just end up committing suicide, or eventually get some help, instead go out and kill tons of people, because they want that recognition from the media and others, or now have the mindset of "hey, he did this, I can do that too." It needs to just stop. Not only the news, but on all social media also, or we will just continue to see things like this.
It's stupid and dangerous.
You hear people talking about gun laws, and getting rid of guns, even the president non stop, when in the end that really will never solve anything. If people want to kill someone they will, and they can do it just as easily with a home made bomb as a gun. I know you hear this a lot, but it's the truth. If someone actually wants to kill a large group of people, they will, regardless of the weapon. They can run a car through a large group of people, they can make bombs just by buying the majority of the stuff at Walmart. In fact I think if these weren't gun shootings and another way of killing it could be even worse. Creativity is something we are never short of. Not to mention that the majority of gun violence is done by illegal guns. The real reason we are allowed to have guns is for one huge reason that people forget. It's so private military and the governments military does not take control of the people, and the people will always be in charge of the government/military. Just look at Indonesia for example, where terrorist groups have weapons, government military, and private military have weapons. They have basically taken control of the people, and they are the ones who decide the laws. It's made it almost impossible for the people to see change that they want, and instead are in a huge crisis because of it. They can't even protest/riot to push them out because they have no weapons, and the military would most likely kill them like it's nothing. I'm not saying this WOULD happen in the U.S, but it is possible and a huge reason why this "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." exists. It never should be taken away from anyone, and even if it was, it would never change what is happening right now.
Yes, I do think we need to crack down on illegal weapons. Yes, I think we need better laws, and better training for people when they do buy weapons. Yes, we need to seriously be able to spot people easier who have mental illness's and get them the help they actually need.
BUT the majority of it, is the news, and US. Stop posting about these mass killings. Stop posting their face, and talking about them. They do not matter, what they do and why they do it does not matter. They did something so horrible that they shouldn't even be looked at like humans to us. Only talk about the victims and what we can do to help them and their families, or only talk about the hero in these situations. Let's start a more positive contagion effect instead of a dangerous one. "That guy is a hero because he helped people, instead of hurting people maybe I should go out and help people." Will be what we start seeing more of, instead of "He did it, I can too".
Yes, eventually there will be a person who goes out and kills a ton of people not because of recognition but for his own twisted ideas, but how we handle it after is a huge responsibility we need to start taking control over. Any news stations that post about these killers should receive huge backlash over this. Freedom of speech is important, but when it causes dangerous situations, it just shouldn't be allowed.