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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: The Philosopher who wrote (10963)	4/11/2001 2:19:43 PM
From: epicure	Respond to of 82486

The gal who killed all the people from the bell tower- unlikely to use a bomb. The rather unhinged black gentleman who wanted to kill people on the subway, unlikely to bomb I think. Most workplace mass killers- unlikely to use bombs- they want the satisfaction of confrontation. So I just don't agree with your hypothesis. I think the kind of mental stresses and illness that cause most killers (aside from the real political fanatics- they are in a different psychological class) to kill large numbers of people when they can walk around with a gun would not be as likely to be expressed with bombs. The gun is a tool of power. There is a power in holding it. In wielding it. In seeing the terror you inspire. In having people beg for their lives. In the feeling of retribution. And the power of choosing who you will shoot. All of that is missing with a bomb. Much more dispassionate and removed and cerebral form of killing. I do not think it would be very satisfying to most mass killers. JMO

To: The Philosopher who wrote (10963)	4/11/2001 5:36:06 PM
From: thames_sider	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

I went looking for instructions on making home made bombs. Within five minutes I found several recipies that I think any high school student could follow easily enough. I'm a chemistry graduate (well, partly). Explosive substances are easy to make, true. Basic volatile inflammatories, even easier. Transporting them to another destination undetected, and getting them to explode on signal - without killing yourself first - is a rather different matter. I'm not about to test them to see whether they really work. But assuming they do, Well, quite. See above. I'd personally rather potential killers died at their own hands than killed others... and home-made explosives are an easy way of doing such. And you can't really 'snap' and suddenly make a bomb - if you try doing something like that in a blind rage, well, IMO see above... making a bomb is probably even easier than getting a gun unless your parents have one unlocked lying around the house. So, where are all these students - anywhere in the world - who've made their own bombs, taken them to school and killed their peers with them? I'll argue from the 100% lack of such... or has every school killer in the US had careless, gun-owning parents? or do disaffected teenagers just like committing mass murder the hard way?