Opinion: The easy availability of guns has turned murder-suicides into mass shootings

To the editor: The motive behind Stephen Paddock’s murderous rampage is not as mysterious as it appears. (“What drove Las Vegas shooter to kill? We don’t know, and it drives us crazy,” Oct. 12)

While we do not know the precise reasons for his decision to end his life so destructively, there are some general issues regarding suicide that help explain them. Many suicidal people are not only despondent but also full of rage against those whom they blame for their problems.

With the easy availability of automatic weapons, the homicide-suicide incidents have now expanded from family tragedies to the mass murder of strangers, with perpetrators following what has almost become a macabre fashion. I suspect that most of these mass murderers intensely enjoyed their pre-death fantasies of future notoriety for going out in a perverted “blaze of glory.”

We cannot always prevent suicide, since some suicidal individuals choose to hide their intent so that they can follow through on their self-destruction. Yet the more society chooses to restrict the availability of guns, the more difficult it will be for suicidal people to kill others.

Cyril Barnert, MD, Los Angeles

The writer is a retired professor of clinical psychiatry at UCLA.

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To the editor: Paddock did it because he could. He did it because he probably had some serious anger issues. He did it because he had the will and the resources to purchase many big guns. He did it because he had the wherewithal to plan a mass shooting and execute it.

There was virtually nothing that got in his way. It is indeed a sad commentary on our culture, a major misreading of the 2nd Amendment and our addiction to guns.

Ann Hayman, Santa Monica

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