LEWISTON SHOOTINGS

I Wish This Story Weren’t Timely Again

Mass shooters like the alleged Maine killer don’t ‘just snap’

A few months ago, I wrote a story debunking perhaps the most common myth about mass shooters: that these killers “just snap.”

Years of studies have shown that they instead tend to plan carefully for their crimes. Some of the shooters make related threats, as did the alleged killer in the Oct. 25 tragedy in Lewiston, Maine, who threatened to shoot up a National Guard base.

I argued in my earlier story that false ideas about how mass shootings happen keep governments from doing a better job of preventing them. You can read about why here: