system
A chat on subreddit /r/NoStupidQuestions
human
if we knew the final answer, we'd be fixing the problem.

ask 100 people, get 100 different answers, all of them biased.

gun control people think eliminating or severely limiting gun access is the answer. yet in northern europe, there are many guns and virtually no gun violence. conversely, in ireland there are very few guns, and likewise virtually no gun violence.

&amp;#x200B;

ask me as a mental health practitioner, and i'll tell you that severe lack of mental healthcare, as well as social stigma and general incredulity and distrust related to mental healthcare, are the underlying causes.

ask a school social worker, and they may tell you that they agree with me, BUT they also believe poverty, lack of school resources, and various other social injustices are greater contributors than mere lack of mental health resources.

&amp;#x200B;

ask 98 others, and you'll get 98 other answers.

and we're all utterly convinced that WE are correct.

which is also part of the problem.
gpt
It’s true that Norway and Finland have lots of guns and little gun violence. Their guns are used almost exclusively for hunting. Those are small countries — under six million people each — with high levels of social cohesion, low crime rates, and high levels of trust and confidence in police and social institutions. 

They are definitely anomalies: in other countries there’s a clear correlation between the number of guns and gun violence. And the U.S. has low levels of social cohesion, high crime rates compared to other affluent countries, and low levels of trust in police and social institutions.