The Sikhs were killed because of stupidity, anger, ignorance and an inability to control violent impulses. These are common problems in people who carry out mass shootings, to
The media have a lot to answer for in this- they pit one group against others, get peoples' blood boiling and in the last election cycle, they tried to tell the public who should receive their vote. After the results were in, they couldn't understand how they could have been wrong about who would win and every major news outlet had their 'top people' sitting there, dumbfounded. Those people are paid big money to advance the agenda of their employers, too. As much as people like to blame the Russians for influencing the election, it could be argued that the media's influence had an affect on people straddling the fence, making them go to Trump, rather than Hillary.
Social media are also to blame. People seem to have lost the ability to debate calmly, yet passionately, without resorting to insults and threats. When someone can launch a tirade within seconds of reading something that pisses them off without thinking of reading it to consider scaling it back, said debate goes off the rails.
Congress passed the Patriot Act, Congress has let it continue, along with extending and enhancing it through the NDAA- if we are to move in a positive direction, Congress needs to be made to understand that they work for The People, not the government.