Should the public's access to assault weapons be limited? Or are mass shootings a mental health issue? Questions continue to be raised following the latest incident of mass violence in San Bernardino, California.Dwight Hennessy, a Buffalo State College Associate Professor of Psychology, says there are no easy answers to the latest tragedy.
"If you go back to the 'guns don't kill people, people kill people' [argument], really it's people with guns. It's both and you can't take either out of the conversation," Hennessy told WBFO.
So far, investigators have not determined whether or not Wednesday's shootings were linked to terrorism or were workplace-related. But Hennessy says regardless of the motive, the killings can create an atmosphere of fear.
Hennessy says the shootings will likely again raise questions about the availability of some of the guns used.
"On one hand, you see the logic of, if somebody doesn't have access to a gun that has that type of repetitive firepower, does this continue to happen? On the flip side, there's a logic to people want to be able to defend themselves. It turns into a chicken and egg thing. What are people defending themselves from?," posed Hennessy.
Hennessy says the theories and models about how the media influences behavior are grossly misunderstood. He says mass shooting are not simply a case of "monkey see, monkey do," but are rather much more complicated.
