We are once again suffering through the aftermath of a senseless massacre; and, once again, we are engaged in a debate about the role of guns in our society.

As a psychiatrist, I have very little to say about the motives of the young man accused of this crime. Judging from the few remarks of his that have been reported in the press, he identifies with the Joker, a comic book villain who is a clever and very powerful psychopath, capable of terrorizing an entire city.

There will always be young men who feel resentful, and alienated and ineffectual; and a few of them will reach out to avenge themselves upon anyone within reach. But out of the great number of men who feel disenchanted with their lives, only a very few will commit mayhem.

I am not optimistic about any conceivable screening program or strategy that will allow us to locate these individuals before they do damage.

As for the rest of us, I am disheartened to see us enter the same sterile debate about controlling or not controlling the purchase of guns. Those people who own guns, and for whom guns are important, will not regard these horrendous incidents as reason for their giving them up.

Once again, we hear the mantra, “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.” Knives don’t kill people either, people do. Even atom bombs don’t kill people unless someone presses the button. The people who wield the knives, and shoot the guns, and set off the bombs are the ones who are responsible. But a deranged person with a gun, or half-dozen guns, can do a lot more damage than someone with a knife.

There are now the usual impassioned pleas for better gun control laws. On rare occasions, in the wake of a particularly horrifying event, laws such as the assault weapon ban are indeed passed, only to lapse later on. The political trend is towards fewer controls. Guns are now permitted in more and more places. The Colorado massacre has already been attributed by some as too few people carrying weapons.

It is pointless to argue about whether or not guns are dangerous. They surely are. Studies have shown that a gun in the home, rather than protecting the family, increases the chance of someone dying violently. But gun owners think that handled properly — in their hands — they are safe.

An analogous situation comes up in people who are afraid to fly. They think they are safer in a car where they are in control. Yet, the fatality rate per mile is 10 times higher driving in a car than flying in an airplane. People overestimate the degree of control they have over events.

I have seen fatalities occur in a family dispute because of the presence of a gun. So, I have a dislike for guns.

But I think the time has come to stop deriding those who think differently. It is pointless to attribute malignant intent to the gun lobby or the National Rifle Association. They could not exert the influence they have without the earnest support of many thousands. Those who want to control the sale and use of guns must understand that the people who do not want to give up their guns — and who are afraid, against all evidence, that someone is trying to take them away — feel that these guns are part of who they are. They will not let someone encroach upon their gun rights, because all the things they believe in are at stake. Or so it seems to them.

Gun owners tend to see themselves as independent and self-reliant and not easily intimidated. Owning a gun is part of that. It is a very American way of thinking. It is one of a number of ways of being American.

But they feel besieged. Their attitude about guns is under attack, along with many other seemingly unrelated cultural issues. In order to enlist their help in solving these problems, they must be reassured. They must see that they are understood.

I think our goals now should be to limit the use of very powerful weapons and to try to devise ways of better educating gun owners to the psychological risks of owning guns. The NRA has programs to encourage gun safety. Such programs should be enlarged to deal with these other considerations. After all, the number of people killed by handguns far exceeds the numbers killed by assault weapons.

I think there are ways of reassuring gun owners so that they are not so intransigent about any gun controls whatever; but any change must start with respecting the way they think and live. When they are attacked, they become more afraid of the “slippery slope” whereby any limitation on guns threatens them. If they are honored for being the self-reliant, independent and courageous men and women they strive to be, I hope the possession of guns will not matter quite so much to them.