Why is it that mass murders don't occur in other countries?

Question

There are at least two other countries which guarantee the right to bear arms: Switzerland and Israel. Yet neither one has ever seen one of her citizens go on a shooting rampage like we saw in Virginia this week. Why here? Are we as Americans more prone to violence than people from other countries?

Let's try reading the question, shall we? I'm not talking about terrorism, wars, or individuals held up at gunpoint. I'm talking about some psychopath going into a restaurant, school, dorm, or theatre with a few loaded guns and opening fire. I have never heard of that happening anywhere but here. If you have, please post a link or at least give the basics of the crime.

Answer 1

The Nanterre massacre occurred on March 27, 2002, in Nanterre, France, when Richard Durn, a 33-year-old local activist, stormed a late-night meeting of local councilors in Nanterre's town hall, and began firing. Eight councilors died in the attack, making it one of the worst mass shootings in recent French history.

The Erfurt massacre was a school shooting that occurred on April 26, 2002 at the Johann Gutenberg Gymnasium in Erfurt, Germany. Sixteen people were killed before the perpetrator committed suicide. The victims comprised 13 school staff, two students and one police officer.

The Osaka School Massacre took place on June 8, 2001, at Ikeda Elementary School, an elite primary school affiliated with Osaka Kyoiku University in Osaka Prefecture, Japan.
At 10:15 that morning, 37-year-old former janitor Mamoru Takuma entered the school armed with a kitchen knife and began stabbing numerous school children and teachers. He killed eight children, mostly between the ages of seven and eight, and seriously wounded thirteen other children and two teachers. Takuma was later convicted and sentenced to death by hanging.

The Dunblane massacre was a multiple murder-suicide which occurred at the primary school in the Scottish town of Dunblane on 13 March 1996. It remains the deadliest attack on children in United Kingdom history. Sixteen children and one adult were killed, in addition to the attacker.

There are plenty more...

Answer 2

Mamoru Takuma (宅間 守 Takuma Mamoru) (November 23, 1963–September 14, 2004) stabbed 8 first- and second-grade students to death and wounded 15 others in the Osaka school massacre of 2001.

Masumi Hayashi (林 真須美, Hayashi Masumi?) is a Japanese woman convicted of putting poison in a pot of curry being served at a summer festival in the Sonobe district of Wakayama Prefecture, Japan.

Answer 3

This is a case of near-sightedness. For you, US news is more available than news of other countries. I was in Ghana and what was playing on the TV monitors at the bus station? CNN. What was going on in Ghana? they didn't say. But the killings that go on in Africa, for example, make this pale in comparison. Take the two Congos, Somalia, Liberia, Darfur. No news coverage, because there are no reporters, no international news camera crews. If there were, somebody would attack them too.

The news from Virginia is bad enough, we don't need any more incidents like that. But in this regard, the US isn't anything special, just has more news cameras.

Answer 4

ha ha CNN and Glen Beck aren't a source. Sorry, that just made me laugh really hard! But to answer your question they do happen elsewhere, like Canada had the worst school shootings until the Virginia Tech Shootings and Canada has one of the most restrictive gun ownership policies in the world.

Answer 5

Here is a list of school massacres:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_school_massacres

You see it happens in other countries too, but there were really many of them in the USA. However I wouldn't consider Americans more prone to violence than others because of the acts of a handful of people.

Answer 6

There has been a similar event in a Swiss state's parliament some years ago (14 killed in Zoug).

I just could not find an English link for the moment.

Answer 7

No. The media doesnt care about violence in other countries like that. Especially now that they've had another in our country, we wont even be looking at the middle east for a while.

Answer 8

Because they encourage ownership and training. They can carry without fear of reprisal from police. They don't allow criminals to sue for being shot while committing a crime. Because the NAACP and ACLU haven't been given power there.
Because everyone who wants has one and a criminal will encounter armed citizens everywhere he turns.

Answer 9

They do. The news isn't always there. Most of the time it has to deal with us for us to hear it. Also, in other countries it is worst because their government can't keep people in line.

Answer 10

A large part of why we are in the War On Terror is because al qaeda and hussein mass murdered people every day.

17 children and teachers were found buried underneath a school while u.s. troops were securing the area.

meat hooks with human flesh were found in terrorist training camps that hussein was a part of.

it was basically a secret holocaust going on. the iran president said on national tv that he wanted 'israel wiped off the map'... doesnt that sound like a genocide to you?