I've been thinking about mass shooters, as the example in Nashville is much in the current news. Power Line's John Hinderaker makes a good point.
Our usual approach to crime is to try to deter it. Don’t rob a bank, or you likely will go to prison. But mass shooters, like Audrey Hale, typically expect to die. So it is more or less impossible to deter them.
Some percentage of suicidal people conclude they have a no-added-cost opportunity to get revenge on a subset of the society that, in their minds, is responsible for their suicidal state. Notice I didn't limit this to shooters, one could obtain similar results by driving a car at speed into a crowd of pedestrians, setting fire to a crowded night club or theater, or derailing a passenger train.
The problem isn't guns, or cars, or Molotov cocktails, it is mental illness. The society isn't to blame for suicidal thoughts, but we humans much prefer blaming others for our difficulties, when mostly the defects are in ourselves.
We suffer the mass shootings and other examples of lashing out because we do not aggressively treat mental illness. We do not isolate dangerous individuals from others they may wish to harm.
Involuntary inpatient care for mentally ill and addicted individuals would cost all of us many tax dollars. And it would be subject to abuse in locking up those the "swamp" find "inconvenient." Meanwhile at any given time most of us aren't exactly at much risk of bodily harm from the sufferers.
We can have a safe society with no homeless and few mass shootings but the cost would be steep. Or we can live with homeless encampments and random crazies doing whatever, including large scale violence.
At one time we chose the former. In recent decades we appear to have chosen the later. We should at least make that choice an overt, considered one via legislation. And if we do, then stop complaining about the occasional outbreak of violence.
Afterthought: If we choose to continue to tolerate free-range nutters, we need to harden the target - the schools - with fences, entrance control points, cameras, etc.
