According to the survey: the United States is vulnerable to shooting cases have these four characteristics

The debate over mass shootings in the United States has become highly politicised in recent years, and doctors are desperately trying to reclaim the conversation using data and reason.

By developing a profile of communities where mass shootings have occurred, last year a trauma research team identified four main social factors that may lead to mass shootings; the list includes lack of access to mental health support and a lack of gun control laws.

To be clear, the research only reveals correlations. But if these factors are found to be truly predictive, they could help inform more effective public health policies.

“Traditionally, these shooting incidents get lot of attention because they come into the hospital as trauma,” said Stephen Markowiak, a general surgery research fellow at the University of Toledo, Ohio.

“But they really need to be looked at more from a public health perspective as to the types of services we are going to provide for the community and what the implications are for the community.”

Access to mental health professionals was found to be one of the key indicators. Communities where mental health care needs were not being met had significantly higher risks of mass shootings.

In addition, the closeness of the community was an important factor. The data reveals that those communities with a greater number of daily social interactions were less likely to suffer mass shootings.

Of course, money has a role to play here as well. Communities with high levels of income inequality, higher housing costs and higher incidences of overcrowding and lack of utilities were key indicators of mass shootings.

The correlation with gun control laws was trickier to determine. At first, the researchers found that communities with stricter gun laws had a 53 percent higher risk of mass shootings.