The sad part about this is that although you're right in just about everything you say, solving the problem by fixing social media/bullying/influences ... will never happen. Every generation has the 'problem of their day'. Those problems never get solved. Ever. They just move on to the next generation, morphing into something else, or being replaced by something as bad or worse.

Sure, fix the ills of the world and the mass shootings will stop. A great idea, but impossible.

This is why people go after the gun-toters, and guns in general. It's an comparably easy solution. It's a measurable quantity, a known target, and something they can aim at when they pull the trigger of anti-gun legislation.

Side note: I do like the fact that you note the context of a lot of those quotes from Thomas Jefferson. Everything looks different in context.