> I also disagree with your and Jordan's characterization
> of these events as 'aberrations.' By the same logic, plane
> crashes are rare, so we cannot meaningfully talk about causes
> or contributing factors - which is nonsense.
First off all, plane crashes are WAY less rare than multiple-victim rage killings.
But anyway, most plane crashes are caused by what is known in the business as "pilot error" .. that is, SOMETHING happened to cause the pilot to take an action that, later, under the microscope, could be seen as going against what they were trained to do, or what another pilot in that situation would do, thus leading to a series of events that culminates in a crash.
That SOMETHING is almost never known, and is usually at the end of a long career of not having that SOMETHING happen. Most pilots never crash. Most psychopaths never kill more than one person.
You're making my point.
> even statistical evidence can be useful here, e.g. when you
> examine per capita fire arms related deaths
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_firearm-related_death_rate
> The US is on the top of this list among third world war-torn and
> gang/warlord infested countries.
What makes you think that the US isn't also on the top of the list of gang/warlord infested countries?
Who do you think is causing all those "firearm-related deaths" ... school shooters?
(never mind that by your own chart, 2/3 of these deaths are suicides)
/jordan