Recent and past shootings are not a gun control problem but a problem of society and the individuals

The recent shooting in CT is a tragedy. I will not say anything against that, thoughts and prayers to the victims and families. The shooting that took place in CT, OR, CO, and others, people have claimed are a tragic trend of violence and many claim it is due to low gun control laws. As a proponent of gun ownership rights, I am often involved in this argument. While I will be using many of my facts and figures that I know already, I'm hoping that in this debate more will come out on both sides allowing for a good increase in knowledge of both parties. I do have to say that the CT shooting is the most tragic even more so than VA Tech (32 dead) and Columbine (13 dead), due to the children being the target. But lets evaluate why this happened. In a NY Times interview, a local resident stated that Adam Lanza had difficulties in the community, was pulled out of school and turned to home-schooling. While we don't know much about his home life, this does lead to speculations as to him having social mental disorders. In one NY Time article (http://tinyurl.com...) he is described as having a development disorder that led to him not socializing well. Beyond that, he was in a household that went through a divorce in 2008 when he was 17 years old, and his father had remarried. All things that can cause mental trauma for a young adult. We don't know if he was bullied in school, or treated right at home, it's unknown. But he clearly had issues with his mother as she was the first victim. Take the Aurora shooting for example, sources claim he had severe social and mental issues (http://tinyurl.com...) as well as the detailed plans of how he was going to kill people planned out (http://tinyurl.com...). That's something that takes a unique person to do, someone with intention to kill, regardless of methods. In both of these cases, guns were used, however, in both of these cases the suspect had deep personal issues that may be the result of upbringing, societal pressures or constraints, or actual disorders. However, these issues also are extremely hard to diagnose, both due to people being unwilling to cooperate and seek help, or inability due to financial constraints. The average cost of a psychiatrist visit is around $120 not including the drugs that you get prescribed, and a psychologist session can range $180-300. That's a lot of money, especially for those that are in college, or out of work, or simply don't think they have a problem and don't want to pay. And many health insurance policies do not cover this. So diagnosing a problem becomes a real problem. Last issue, is childhood and upbringing, especially our school systems. In 09-10 school year, the CDC (http://tinyurl.com...) reported that 12% (7.8mil) of kids reported being in a physical fight at school, 5.9% (3.835mil) skipped one or more days due to feeling unsafe, and finally 20.1% (13.065mil) said they were victims of at school bullying and 16.2% (10.53mil) said electronic bullying. That's a lot of kids that are having traumatic events at school. If you combine all those numbers that's 35.23 Million kids, now, that's gotta assume there are a lot of kids getting double hits in this survey as well, thus increasing the trauma. On top of that 1.2 Million drop out annually, 44% of which are now jobless (http://tinyurl.com...) and unable to support themselves or whatever situation they are in. That trauma has to have some kind of negative effect on a developing mind. All that being said, now lets examine other figures. Gun ownership is climbing and in a high point since 1996, with 47% of Americans stating that they are gun owning households. Now, the census data I have is from 2010, and therefore I will use that data and percentage of 45% gun households (http://tinyurl.com...), but just bear in mind that the number has increased. This equates, with the 2010 45% to 47-53 Million Households. The same year, adults owning guns was around 30-34% equating to 70-80million. Now, lets translate that to firearm related homocides in the same year, 8775 (http://tinyurl.com...). That equates to 0.012% of gun owners being involved in these shootings. Now, lets look at a few other statistics, a few of these are dated but they are still relevant, it is estimated (exact numbers are hard to determine based on how it is used) that over 100K times a year guns are used as a means of self-defense (http://tinyurl.com...). In '99, DC had a murder rate of 56.9:100K and they've had a ban on guns since 1976, Arlington, VA allows guns, across the river, had a murder rate of 1.6:100K. Britian, which people use as the poster child of gun control, has a "hot burglary" rate of 59% (meaning residents are home at the time), the US has a rate of 13%, combine that with the fact that many felons report they avoid houses where they know or suspect the victim is armed (http://tinyurl.com...). All these statistics, and I have many more, go to show that guns do not cause crime to happen. The data regarding ownership and crime rate shows that 99.9% of gun owners are law-abiding citizens that have done absolutely nothing wrong with their firearms. That is an overwhelming majority and good cause to say that guns are not causing the problems here. Lets retract to April 19, 1995, in Oklahoma City. Two men conspired to and accomplished another tragic event, the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. 168 dead, including 19 children, and 680 injured. They built this bomb with fertilizer and gas and a few other components. The methods for building these bombs is not hard to find instructions for, and the components are simple to get. Yes, they would suspect something now if you walk into a store and buy 40 bags of fertilizer, but consider James Holmes, planning this for months, even suspected of booby trapping his own house. He had guns, yes, but what if he walked in with a small back pack with a pipe bomb or parked outside with a bomb like the one in 1995. What if the guy in CT drove a van into the front door of the school with the same thing? 9/11, no shots were fired and thousands died. Guns are not the problem here, pardon my graphic description but someone could walk through a school with a crowbar, or an axe, or a machete and do quite a bit of damage. These people have something wrong in their heads, the guns don't make them do this, it's their own problems and they would do it with or without guns. If someone wants to cause destruction they'll find a way.