Guns and horrific things correlate to stress and poverty...

       PHOTO CREDIT: Christian Erfurt, Unsplash

"Nearly all attackers experienced one or more significant stressors within five years of the attack.

Roughly 93% of attackers dealt with personal issues ranging from health problems to divorce, domestic abuse, car accidents, school expulsions, disciplinary actions at work and cyber bullying, among a slew of other challenges.

For 139 attackers — 77% — the stressor(s) occurred within one year of the mass-casualty incident. Seventy-two percent of attackers specifically experienced a financial stressor sometime prior to their attack." - Yahoo news, 1/25/23

~ Here's my take ...

I often speak to clients about the impact of stress.  Not necessarily how to manage it better ... most already know that this is needed. As mental health continues to be stoked as in need of more funding - there is a societal thing to consider too.  Our culture applauds productivity and then attempts to call productivity happiness.  And when productivity is low the "non-productive" are blamed for their "need to do better."  To look at guns,  to look at mental illness and overlook the impact of stress and poverty is a bias of assumption.  Poverty and stress correlate to mental illness and violence.  Psychotic breaks (nervous breakdowns), double binds and the demands of a culture must all be addressed systemically. This article takes a comprehensive look at correlations to gun violence... where stress and money appear to be a major influence to horrific and dangerous things.