ANOTHER SCHOOL/PUBLIC SHOOTING

[HairOfTheDog]

Ted Bundy....never used a gun. The killer clown John Wayne Gacy....never used a gun. Jeffery Dahmer....never used a gun. Crazy is crazy.

That's true; not all crazy killers use guns.

But...Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, and Jeffrey Dahmer weren't mass murderers, they were serial killers. Big pathological difference.

The serial killers you mentioned were committed and passionate about killing. They targeted familiar individual victims or victim-types. They got personal/sexual gratification from each kill, and they selected their victims specifically to maximize that gratification. They wanted to elude discovery/capture by law enforcement; they wanted to live beyond each sexual assault/murder in order to be able to do/feel it again. They weren't lazy killers (I don't say that with admiration, but as a matter of fact). No guns necessary.

Lanza, Rodger, Roof, Mercer -- on the hugely significant other hand -- were compelled to kill as many people as possible in a single incident because they were dissatisfied with life, felt angry and bitter with strangers about their own insignificance, had mental health issues... Such murderers sometimes plot their attacks, but they are lazy killers execution-wise and they rarely expect/attempt to elude capture or strike again. They're single-incident, suicidal/homicidal, mass murderers (not serial killers). They want or expect to be caught or taken down; they crave the notoriety. Guns almost always required and part of the thrill.

Without easy access to easy-to-use guns and ammo, many of those inclined to commit mass murder might not ever have enough intelligence or determination to carry out their fantasies. And, certainly, they could never take out as many people in 10 minutes with easily accessible and easy-to-use knives or baseball bats as they can with semi-automatic high capacity rifles, pistols, or even long guns (for which there is no minimum age limit in the U.S., currently).

Bombs and arson are most often too unattractive and difficult for such mass murderers. No other weapon ensures the multiple-victim, high death count, and immediate kill-gratification that guns provide for these types of killers. I don't think that's even debatable from a common-sense perspective, especially if you look at history and statistics.

So, smart gun control/regulation wouldn't likely affect serial killings much, but might well help reduce mass murders.

I don't want to take everybody's guns, by the way. I'm not an advocate for gun-type bans at this point either.