To look at it in another way, it is surprising that someone with that level of knowledge intent on killing people didn’t kill far more people. There are lots of simple ways someone with decent chemical knowledge and access to lab equipment could kill a lot of people in a confined space, but instead he chose to use guns primarily.
My leading hypothesis would be that people in this sort of mental state are not motivated by maximising the number of people they kill but by fitting into the mold of a gunman or fulfilling some other psychological desire. So if that is the case we should be comforted that even if the access of people to dangerous chemicals increases they won’t use them. What would be really dangerous is if someone psychologically normal decided to kill a lot of people.
To look at it in another way, it is surprising that someone with that level of knowledge intent on killing people didn’t kill far more people. There are lots of simple ways someone with decent chemical knowledge and access to lab equipment could kill a lot of people in a confined space, but instead he chose to use guns primarily.
My leading hypothesis would be that people in this sort of mental state are not motivated by maximising the number of people they kill but by fitting into the mold of a gunman or fulfilling some other psychological desire. So if that is the case we should be comforted that even if the access of people to dangerous chemicals increases they won’t use them. What would be really dangerous is if someone psychologically normal decided to kill a lot of people.