Hasan had already shot about 45 people, 13 fatally, when he stopped to re-load. Traffic cop, Sgt Munley, although badly injured herself, hit Hasan with four shots and no doubt prevented several further murders.
The media focus has been on Hasan's obviously wavering mental stability prior to the shootings, his Muslim faith and his imminent posting to Afghanistan. It was difficult to find any information about the weapon he used and the ease with which he purchased it. It seems Hasan bought the FN Five Seven 'Cop-Killer' pistol over the counter at a local store.
Solo killers like Hasan are invariable gun enthusiasts, who bought and held their weapons legally. They invariably use pistols. They kill themselves. This pattern was followed in Dunblane as well as other massacres in Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy and Finland (twice).
In 1996-7, the British Government (first Tory, then Labour) took the nation's entire stock of pistols out of private hands and destroyed them. It cost about £90m but was one of the best actions any Government took and one which we, as a country, have struggled to locate our pride in.
Of course, gun crime has risen in the last twelve years but massacres stand at zero and will remain so. It is still technically possible for a very determined individual to plot a similar outrage against vulnerable targets in Britain today. But the amount of time needed to accumulate the necessary ammo would be very considerable, at least long enough for seething anger to dissipate somewhat.
It is the mere fact that lethal weaponry is available which fuels the anger of the disturbed individual and makes them believe ultimate retribution is in their grasp. Take away the guns and the cycle is broken.
There are an estimated 300 million guns in the States so even if it were politically impossible (which it isn't) there would be huge practical difficulties in taking out several classes of weapon let alone all of them. At least in Britain we did the right thing when we had the chance.
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