If the intent of a person with a gun is to kill as many people as possible with it...

[linuxman]

7. And yet, that's still not terrorism

unless you are willing to contradict every last subject matter on the planet.

The word terrorism has meaning. It applies to situations in which violence or the threat of violence is directed at (usually) civilian forces in an effort to coerce, influence, or disrupt in an effort to achieve some political end.

We have words to describe the other stuff already. Spree killers, mass shooters, school shooters, mad gunmen, mass killers, wholesale murderer, arsonist, bomber, etc.


Attempting to shoehorn arbitrarily assigned acts of violence into the current, accepted, and understood definition of terrorism serves no practical purpose whatsoever. Hell, you could even come up with a new term for all the other violence we're talking about here. The problem is when you conflate different things.

Sexualt battery, sexual assault, rape. Not all are rape.

battery, assault, assault with deadly intent, malicious wounding, assault with a deadly weapon. Not all are battery

Murder, manslaughter, homicide. Not all are murder.