I would bet there are few who have been unaffected by the recent events in South Carolina -- a young man bursting into an African-American church, and gunning down nine people during a prayer group.
One more example of carnage in a society with 88 automatic weapons per resident.
One of the fiercest debates, I have noticed, has been around the media coverage of the perpetrator, Dylann Roof, and his state of mind: apparently he "had mental health problems".
This isn't the first time mental illness has been thrown around following a mass shooting: the Isla Visa shooter had "Aspergers", the Sandy Hook gunman had "an anxiety disorder", the Virginia Tech shooter was "suicidal", and the guy who opened fire on a movie theatre, dressed as The Joker, was "psychotic".
Newsworthy though the mental disturbance news angle may seem, it is actually highly problematic and damaging. Firstly, the perpetrator's actions are excused: he was just a nice, normal well-brought-up guy, who went a bit mad and lost the plot.