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Mass Shootings In ‘A Culture Obsessed With Guns’ (VIDEO)

Like the rest of us, The Young Turks were horrified with the latest school shooting in Oregon, leaving them wondering what, if anything, can be done about it. They shared this video of their analysis of the gun issue with us:

On Thursday, The Young Turks Ana Kasparian, John Iadarola, and Ben Mankiewicz break down the mass shooting at Umpqua Community College in Oregon. At least 13 people were confirmed dead. They discuss how these shootings are becoming commonplace with almost one shooting a day.

“If you live in a culture that’s obsessed with guns it really doesn’t matter if you live in a ‘so-called’ peaceful community,” Kasparian says, “We’re now living in this age of extreme gun violence. And it’s scary to know it doesn’t matter where you are, you could be a victim to this.”

Yet there are people who stand against gun reform laws and bring up mental illness as the reason for these shootings. Iadarola argues, “The idea that it’s just the mental illness … do they believe that other countries don’t have mental illness? That the UK is just oddly free of any sort of mental disease …” This is in reference to the successful gun policies in the UK. He adds, “When you take away the guns you get less shootings, regardless of the level of insanity in the population.”

During his speech on the shooting, Obama challenged the media to compare deaths from terrorism to death from guns in the United States. The results were disturbing, but probably not surprising. Here’s one example from The Washington Post’s Philip Bump:

The Onion’s satirical article, “‘No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens” has become a perennial, if painful favorite social media share whenever this occurs:

ISLA VISTA, CA—In the days following a violent rampage in southern California in which a lone attacker killed seven individuals, including himself, and seriously injured over a dozen others, citizens living in the only country where this kind of mass killing routinely occurs reportedly concluded Tuesday that there was no way to prevent the massacre from taking place.

“This was a terrible tragedy, but sometimes these things just happen and there’s nothing anyone can do to stop them,” said North Carolina resident Samuel Wipper, echoing sentiments expressed by tens of millions of individuals who reside in a nation where over half of the world’s deadliest mass shootings have occurred in the past 50 years and whose citizens are 20 times more likely to die of gun violence than those of other developed nations.

‘No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens

What, if anything, can be done about the epidemic of mass shootings? And will we ever, actually, do it?

Kit OConnell

Kit OConnell

Kit O’Connell is a gonzo journalist and radical troublemaker from Austin, Texas. He is the Associate Editor and Community Manager of Shadowproof. Kit's investigative journalism has appeared in Truthout, MintPress News and Occupy.com.