Mass Killings: Myth, Reality, and Solutions

This book clearly and concisely retorts the cut and paste mindless myths we hear from the media that we hear after a 'mass' shooting.This is a go-to reference when confronted by the media and your anti-gun amateur psychologist friends with why we need more gun laws and the state of mind of the killers. It lays it all out, complete with references and footnotes.You're entitled to your own opinions, but not your own facts. This book has the facts.

This starts with a well documented review of the numbers and the way the numbers are manipulated. I continues with the psychopathy of the perpepetrators, conduct (or misconduct) of the media, and what can work to prevent or limit such acts. It also covers what has not worked. All in all a short concise read for anyone who wants to understand the problem and is willing to put aside agenda to pursue solutions.

I would say that this is a great read but the subject is rather ... If you are in a situation where you are watching for the indicators of someone who might be an active shooter, YOU NEED TO READ THIS. This is very thought provoking.

In which David Hardy reviews the mental status of mass killers, the myths of mass killers, and then offers some solutions which you may or may not agree with. Hardy argues that the post Columbine mass killer is a narcissist bent on celebrity which the media gladly provides setting the stage for the next loser to emulate with an even bigger body count. One of his solutions would be for the media to display a bit of responsibility and not give the little bastards what they seek. Ain't gonna happen. Mass killers are rating gold for the mainstream media and provide these adjuncts to the Democrat party an excuse to push for gun control. At only sixty-eight pages this provides much more and copious footnotes. You may not agree with everything he says but at $2.99 for the Kindle version it is well worth the cost and will give you a base upon which to make your own. Highly recommended.

The time you spend here will be well worth your time. The author brings out the symbiotic relationship between the media and the murderers better than I have seen anywhere else.

I am familiar with Hardy's writing through law review articles he has authored and I have had the pleasure of hearing him speak at a national firearms law symposium. His knowledge of American firearms law and history is encyclopedic (my 3-star review is a nod to that). Unfortunately, this book does not reflect Hardy's background, knowledge, or capabilities as a legal scholar. Its treatment of the subject is brief (64 pages) and one-sided (pro-NRA/gun rights interests). It does not adequately address possible regulations that would make it more difficult for individuals who demonstrate psychological disturbance to obtain firearms, or that would allow for more effective and efficient methods to remove and secure firearms away from such individuals. I agree with his argument that news/news commentary organizations should focus on public safety concerns and information about the victims, and not glorify alleged perpetrator(s) of such incidents, but hoped for a wider critique or exploration of the role American gun-culture plays in these matters. And I remain unpersuaded that nothing can be done from a regulatory perspective to make society safer from mass killings via gunmen. In summary, I was hoping for an informative, thorough, fair, and balanced exploration of the issue, but was disappointed. My hope is for a re-write.

Dave Hardy clearly addresses the reality of these events, and contrasts that reality with the agenda driven media perception. An informative and well written piece well worth the price.

Hardy does a great job at summarizing the science. Moreover there are multiple peer reviewed works supporting his summery and showing the issue is not gun control but a very specific set of mental illnesses. The one negative review here doesn't even acknowledge that the volume is a *summary* of the science and instead suggests what we know does not work: less First, Second, Fourth or Fifth Amendment rights, which the left suggests in response. Decreasing the rights of >99.999% of people in response to something done by one in 10 million is simply not a sober road to go down.We know the mechanism of this specific type of mass murder, be with with handgun, rifle, bomb or other means: Take a young mind the following serious issues: a) narcissism b) a sense of insignificance c) a conflation of infamy with fame, and add the key factor d) the media being complicit in giving the killers what they want -- wall to wall coverage that ensures guaranteed fame.Tim McVeighs killing of 200 people with a bomb, Anders Breivak in gun controller's heaven of Norway killed 70 (more students killed in that than any US school shooting), Andreas Lubitz killed 216 in France with a plane. In fact that Norway shooting was with a gun model that is not only the single most common and legal gun model in Canada, but one that is not even on Canada's restricted list and requires no registration. In France, a single individual with a truck of a type that anyone in the US can rent killed and injured more people than the biggest ever shooting in the US. This proves that changing gun laws will simply move the killings to other methods, and methods that are typically more, not less, lethal.The issue clearly is not going to be affected by any gun control since the biggest one with gun are outside of the US in a places with much more gun control, and even larger ones have been done by individuals using home made explosives, rented trucks or even a plane in the case of Lubitz.In fact of large mass murder of 50 or more people in the past ten years, Europe has had six times as many, than the US.And sorry but I don't agree with the left's contention that we should copy countries that have much lower equivalents to our First, Second, Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights. In Japan you can be held for questioning for a month without being charged and interrogated 12 hours per day that entire month - with no charges brought and o lawyer. In Australia there are much lower fourth and fifth amendment protections. Warrants are much easier, and evidence that would be excluded in the US is allowed there. In Germany no one has a right to a jury trial. 'Stop and Frisk" ("walking while black") methods that gun control organization founder Mike Bloomberg increased, and still advocates nationally, have thankfully been ruled unconstitutional in the US, but they are legal in most developed democracies.Congratulations to the author for insisting we look at the science, and at the media which has been the primary driving force in this needs to self examine themselves and decide whether profit from headlines, now proven to increase incidence of such murders, is worth it to the society they claim to serve.