Frequency of mass shootings paradoxically boosts public's sensitivity — and resignation - latimes

Attackers with long guns and body armor storm a holiday party at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, and what follows is a routine that has become so commonplace as to be predictable.

Word of the shootings spreads quickly over Twitter and other social media. Hashtags: activeshooter, sanbernardino and 2ndamendment

People around the world respond by switching on television sets to see live overhead pictures of mayhem and tragedy, scenes that are being repeated at an alarming rate in the United States: 

Soon a smartphone video will emerge. This time, it was taken by a nurse at the facility, showing law enforcement running around the building. As it is broadcast on the networks, elected leaders are responding to the attacks with well-practiced language.

"Praying for the victims, their families & the San Bernardino first responders in the wake of this tragic shooting," tweets Jeb Bush.

Bernie Sanders: "Mass shootings are becoming an almost-everyday occurrence in this country. This sickening and senseless gun violence must stop."

On social media, the talk is of "active shooters" and "AK-47s" and "body armor," all terms rarely heard outside of military and police circles a generation ago but common in an age when everyone can be a reporter or commentator.

A study by the Harvard School of Public Health and Northeastern University documents a threefold rise in mass shootings in the United States since 2011, leaving some experts to wonder whether the attention paid to each incident only encouraged copycats.

"One of the reasons I would cite for why we are seeing more now: We have the impact of social media and the mass publicity," said Jeffrey Simon, a visiting lecturer at UCLA and author of "Lone Wolf Terrorism: Understanding the Growing Threat." "That encourages people who want to go out in a blaze of glory."

Ron Astor, a USC professor who has studied violence for more than 30 years, sees a nation that is failing its victims — those dead and those who will die in the future.  "Mass shootings are blended together into mass murder, and what is missing is a moral response," Astor said.

Motivated by mental illness, racial hatred, religious fervor or merely a grudge, shooters bring a terrible justification to their violence that Astor worries is becoming accepted as a new normal. - Read More 

Frequency of mass shootings paradoxically boosts public's sensitivity — and resignation

The U.S. infatuation with guns is bordering on a society-wide suicidal impulse- Read More at EDITORIAL