Hi Mark. Iraqis started carrying weapons after the Gulf war, guns are also common in countries like Yemen but the tight knit social system keeps the violence away from everyday society.

Disagreements are sorted out among the tribes and families and you would never hear about any mass shooting in the region.

The Shia Sunni strife in Iraq never existed before the Gulf War in Iraq, there have been intra sect marriages for centuries. Only when the invaders came in that they brought the secretarian divide.

Things have gone back to normal however and there aren’t any Shia Sunni conflicts reported for years now.