> And then I always get in debates on here why as a European I would not want to live in the US for any amount of money in the world. What the hell are you doing over there? What kind of tragedy will be enough for the majority to want gun restrictions, instead of repeating the same idiotic and brainwashed idea that guns keep people safe?

This isn't an argument, but as a person from the US living in the EU specifically because I got tired of senseless violence I realized that on scale Europe is more volatile and prone to senseless violence. I was in Ukraine in the Fall of '21 during the Belarusian and Poland proxy war where hapless refugees were used for political aims and as cannon fodder while Russia was preparing for invasion. Then the invasion sparked a conflict not seen since WW2 with full out kinetic warfare with drones, tanks, and anti-ballistic missiles and warships broke out on this continent.

And depending on where you are in the EU it is happening in your backyard--personally speaking I'm like 700Km from Ukraine. And the fact that Russians were occupying Chernobyl without a clue of what the hell they were doing and they were shooting in Zaporizhzhia and people just went about their day sent me into a state depression for weeks if not months.

Most Europeans seem to just be going about their life like it doesn't matter either and that is a much bigger worry to me since this seriously has the potential of ending in Nuclear warfare and people seem equally as desensitized to something that was thought to be impossible since Hiroshima/Nagasaki. School shootings are horrible, but the insane level of violence that my friends in Ukraine have been subjected to due to Russian invasion is order of magnitudes worse than all the school shootings combined by far.

But I also have some observations: while going and coming back to Ukraine I stopped in Hungary and crossed through Slovenia and the thought never crossed my mind that it was a lack of guns that made things seem calm in the EU.

It was access to medical resources, and counseling for most, especially those in dire need; relatively speaking most EU citizens will always have lower standards of living relative to the the outliers in the US (those here on HN for example), but it's the growing bottom percentile that I think commit most of these crimes to begin with and not always in impoverished places either.

While gun restrictions may appear on paper to be the answer, and I think it should be more difficult to acquire a firearm in the US and that training be mandatory the same way a drivers license is required, I think what is really at odds is a Society with horrible mental health issues and no real way to treat it due to a broken medial system that seems to concerned with price gouging than it is with treating patients.

Moreover, media sensationalism plays a large part in this: it's bad, but the media has helped push the narrative that any kid being bullied at school is likely to shoot everyone at school, when in reality everyone was bullied in school to some degree and had to learn coping mechanisms to deal with these realities of Life. But that doesn't sell ads, so it is never focused on, and educators are paid nothing and demoralized and forced into apathy.

Guns are just like hammers, an amoral tool that can be used for whatever ends the user intends to use it for. What I fear has happened is that most will always play the 2nd Amendment card rather than look at the lack of a well regulated Militia part and see that a permanent standing itself is also in direct violation of the Constitution (Article 1 Section 8) and only has provision for a Navy to deter piracy.

I have a firearm, and I have taken the training to use it for hunting purposes, which I still intend to make use of when I return as the cost of meat continues to rise. But I bought it primarily for self-defense as the rate of soldiers with PTSD coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan were shooting their families, communities and ultimately themselves.

And by all standards most veterans would be the last to ever be denied firearms since they are the most well trained by the State to use and own them so regulation wouldn't solve this alone. I think addressing the large amount of mental health issues is a bigger component to the equation.