They do happen occasionally but not anywhere near as often as they happen here. Our homicide rates are 25 times higher than any other industrialized country. The only common thread between us and the rest of the world is that we have 300m firearms swimming around the country. Reduce that number and you will see a dramatic reduction in mass shootings.
???? Our homicide rates are 25 times higher than any other industrialized country????? Talk about making up stats. What are you calling "industrialized"? Limited to Western Europe? Include South America? Mexico? Central America?
-USA homicides per 100,000 inhabitants 4.9
-Sweden 1.1; Australia 1.0; Denmark 1.0 Norway .6; Switzerland .7; Austria .5
-The Socialist mecca of Venezuela (Bernie Sanders favorite) 89 homicides per 100,000
-Brazil (quite industrialized) 30 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants .. strict gun control
-Colombia .. very industrialized .. strict gun control 24 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants
-Argentina .. very industrialized and educated .. 6 homicides per 100,000.
-The Islands .. all very strict gun control (Bahamas 30; Belize 45; Trinidad / Tobago 28; Dominican Republic 22; St Lucia 22; Dominica 21)
-Puerto Rico 15
- Costa Rica 12
-Panama 10
-Bolivia 9
-Peru 8
-Guatemala 26
-Mexico 23
-Many African Nations 30
-Bahamas 30
-Jamaica 56
-El Salvador 60
The murder rate in the US might be 4-6 times that of Sweden - Austria ... but it is a fraction of the rate in the vast majority of countries in this hemisphere .. and most of those countries have very strict controls on ownership of firearms. Countries such as Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Colombia are also very industrialized.