Well, for a start, we assume the people (often young people) are suffering some mental illness. Not always true, writes Jeff Kass in the Washington Post.
The 2002 Safe School Initiative report, by the Secret Service and the Department of Education, looked at 41 attackers across 37 incidents from 1974 to 2000. It concluded that only 17 percent “had been diagnosed with mental health or behavior disorder prior to the attack.” Most had never had a mental health evaluation. However, 78 percent “exhibited a history of suicide attempts or suicidal thoughts.”
Adult and teen shooters do not suddenly snap. Their anger and planning often develop over time. And the more they plan, the more an argument can be made, in the eyes of the law, that they are sane.
Indeed, mental illness is not automatically an excuse, legally speaking. ...WaPo
Parents may have no idea that their child are capable of committing an atrocity. But friends and others probably know.
The Safe School Initiative found that in 81 percent of the cases studied, “at least one person had information that the attacker was thinking about or planning the school attack.”Almost always — 93 percent of the time — that person was “a peer, a friend, schoolmate or sibling.” ...WaPo
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