Why are kids shooting other kids at school?

[iverglas]

51. actually, if that's the case I'm thinking of,

it was specifically a man shooting and killing women at a health club. As Marc Lépine shot and killed women at the Montréal Polytechnique.

In the case we may both be thinking of, there was no evidence of mental illness. Narcissism, yes. That is now the prevailing analysis of at least one of the Columbine killers as well. Personality disorders are not mental illnesses.

I'm not disagreeing with what you're saying, just pointing out that mental illness does not really explain many of these incidents. Sometimes "loners", for example, or even victims of bullying, are loners and bullied because they really are unpleasant people. And that's why they do what they then do: not because they are excluded or victimized, but because they are unpleasant.

I've posted about this phenomenon at DU in relation to several well-known killers.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=341&topic_id=14532&mesg_id=14561
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=118&topic_id=244827&mesg_id=245313
(the gym killer)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=118&topic_id=439206&mesg_id=440025
(the Norwegian killer)

Narcissists aren't born (although psychopaths may be). But they're bloody hard to do anything about -- and they certainly aren't candidates for the two mental health situations that would disqualify them from legal firearms access in the US (although do essentially nothing to actually inhibit access): commitment for treatment or adjudication as incompetent.

It really is the guns in the equation that something can and should be done about.