Mass killings, and especially school shootings, are terrifying crimes that seize the nation's attention. After each, many instinctively ask "why did he do this?" and "what can we do to stop it?" Best-selling author and attorney David T. Hardy here concisely answers these and other questions, based upon careful study of specific cases. He probes the mental states that make mass killers willing to kill (and usually to die), establishes what the killers are after, and outlines what we should do (or not do) to frustrate them.Hardy begins by dispelling a number of myths about mass killings. Mass killers were not bullied: they were more likely the bullies. They didn't just "snap," they planned carefully for months. Mass killings are not a uniquely American problem. The most lethal mass killing (102 dead) came in China, the most lethal mass shooting (67 dead) occurred in Norway. The most deadly mass killing in America involved arson; the most lethal school killing involved explosives.What drives most mass killers? They are extreme cases of narcissistic personality disorder: they are willing to kill and die in order to gain the publicity they crave. That the publicity comes as infamy rather than fame makes no difference to them: "Screw fame, I'll take infamy," as one wrote.A major problem is that killers and the mass media have established a symbiotic relationship, where each gives the other what it needs. Mass killer give the media what it wants: an enormous audience, and thus ratings and advertising income. The media gives the mass killers what they want: instant celebrity status, their pictures on the evening news and the cover of Time, their manifestos publicized and debated, their names made into household words.What is to be done? Hardy analyses many proposals, good and bad. What will work is media self-restraint. After the first 48 hours, do not show the killers' pictures, nor give their names, nor publish their manifestos. Focus on the victims instead. If mass killers become "non-persons," their motive will vanish. Something very like this was done in the wake of the attempted killing of Rep. Steve Scalise, and the media were not hindered in their reporting. To protect schools, arm selected teachers. Mass killers will single out or avoid uniformed security, but have no way to know where the armed teachers are. It's not necessary for a system to be perfect. Raising the risk of failure is sufficient, because narcissists hate the idea of failure as much as they love the idea of celebrity status. Becoming a failure, a laughingstock, is their nightmare. Hardy outlines these and other proposals that might have merit.What won't work? Hardy evaluated several. The most obvious failure is a measure that is always proposed in the wake of a mass killing: gun control. It simply cannot work. Broader background checks? All mass killers either passed them or would have passed them. Waiting periods? The killers plan for months or years. Limiting magazine size? Almost all carry two or more guns. Banning AR-15? Mass killers don't often use them.Mass Killings: Myth, Reality, and Solutions is an indispensable book for anyone interested in this problem, and in assessing ways to reduce it.
