Dunblane revisited

A man has run amok in Cumbria with an arsenal of guns: twelve people dead so far and no motive revealed. Derrick Bird, a taxi driver, went beserk over three hours in various parts of the county before, seemingly, taking his own life: a common end to such tragedies (see Dunblane; Hungerford).

No doubt there will be an inquiry. The bottom line? You can't really know your neighbours well enough. And disaffected loners seem to be a common theme.

At least, unlike the USA, such shootings do not tend to be committed by young people. Dunblane was perpetrated by an adult outsider; Columbine was enacted by students at the institution. But this is probably due to a respective lack of access to arms rather than a difference in morals.


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