The United States is, by a long shot, the global leader in mass
shootings, claiming just 5% of the global population but an outsized
share -- 31% -- of the world's mass shooters since 1966, a new study
finds.

The Philippines, Russia, Yemen and France -- all countries that can
claim a substantial share of the 291 documented mass shootings between
1966 and 2012 -- collectively didn't even come close to the United
States.

And what makes the United States such a fertile incubator for mass
shooters? A comprehensive analysis of the perpetrators, their motives
and the national contexts for their actions suggests that several
factors have conspired to create in the United States a potent medium
for fostering large-scale murder.

You think mass shootings are happening all the time? They are more
frequent, data show
You think mass shootings are happening all the time? They are more
frequent, data show
Those factors include a chronic and widespread gap between Americans'
expectations for themselves and their actual achievement, Americans'
adulation of fame, and the extent of gun ownership in the United
States.

Set those features against a circumstance the United States shares
with many other countries -- a backdrop of poorly managed mental
illness -- and you have a uniquely volatile brew, the new study says.

http://www.latimes.com/science/scien...824-story.html