What Motivates Mass Murderers

The coded message in the latest arrest of a maniac wanting to shoot up a newsroom;   . . . "Schildkraut spoke at a recent conference on gun violence and the failure of gun control, put on by the American Freedom Alliance in Los Angeles last May, called "School Shootings: Facts, Fallacies, Freedom and the Future." Showing lots of evidence, Schildkraut said it was worth it to keep shooters' names out of the paper. "There's a 12-day window, when we are most likely to see copycats," she said. "She wasn't the only one who thought this, either. AFA linked to a Mother Jones (of all places) article that explored the same proposal, which in any case is a more workable than actual gun control. Schildkraut's proposal, while it seemed farfetched to many, didn't sound much different from the press routinely keeping rape victims' names out of the paper. Schildkraut was so convinced of the importance of this she leds a group called 'No Notoriety' which advocates that the media not publish the names of these maniacs as a means of keeping other killers from activating themselves. According to one study, as many as 30% of mass shootings are copycats triggered by these two factors ... fame prospects, and the 12-day window.

"Schildkraut explained that mass shooters are often motivated by the 'notoriety' element and love the "wall to wall coverage" which magnifies the perception of a threat. For a zero such as a mass shooter, it's thrilling to go from zero to hero so instantly. Then, once jailed, they get mooning letters from lovestruck girls and women, who have some fixation on the creepy, revolting convict, which excites them even more. " . . .

Mass Murderers Should Be Deprived of Fame
. . . "The more their names are known the more likely they are to inspire imitators pursuing similar recognition. A 26-year-old man who killed nine people on a college campus in Oregon in 2015 had previously written of another killer: "A man who was known by no one, is now known by everyone. ... Seems the more people you kill, the more you're in the limelight.' " . . .

What Motivates Mass Murderers  . . . "Is this a believable motive? Unfortunately, it is. Indeed, the goal of a high body count is nothing new at all. Many mass killers are clearly vying for fame, and not just any shooting will do. They know very well that the more people they kill, the more the world will hear about their deeds. The Newtown killer presumably picked this target also because the horror of killing small children would further add to the media attention.