You're correct in that Americans have always had guns, so owning guns is NOT the cause of our escalating violence. It's an entire generation of kids/young adults who have grown up being exposed to media and entertainment messages that glorify violence as being the solution to everyone's problems. Then there is the growing number of mentally ill people roaming the streets and not getting the treatment they need for their own sake AND all the while presenting a risk to the population around them.
Since the 80s when activist groups started pressuring Washington to make it harder to institutionalize someone against their will, this problem has grown and grown.
Actually - we've always had it this bad in terms of mass murder. The difference is that now we have the internet and a 24 hour cable news cycle.
I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.