I suppose it depends on the poster, but many people here have been compiling evidence on famous crimes and engaging in violent speculation. The JonBenet Ramsey case contains such graphic detail and many of these forums involve people extremely obsessed with victims they never knew who know every single detail of the violence they endured, make models of what happened, and enjoy theorizing about it. I like theorizing about it too - I am interested in the crime solving aspect as well. But most people don't have this as a hobby, and would find it weird that I discuss crimes online that have no relation to me. The spreadsheet thing is obviously a red flag, but it's not like that was easily discoverable. My point is that reading about shootings and discussing them is not all that odd, although most would find it weird that I discuss Sandy Hook online with strangers. It's not exactly normal, but it's not indicative of violence. If I started making lists of the most effective mass murders, then it's a different story. But it's not like he was on public forums fantasizing about this stuff. It was hard to track - the spreadsheet and maybe the grandma story are the things that stand out and should be focused on the most, not that he read about Columbine.
There was a gun safe - it was IN HIS ROOM (addressing what another poster said). Yes, she absolutely could have removed the guns. Clearly she didn't feel a need to. She seemed to know enough to lock them up to prevent strangers from accessing them, but didn't see her son as a threat.
Institutions could help in a tiny fraction of cases, but I know someone who works with people who threaten mass violence and she said most are not identifiable as being highly disturbed. <modsnip> The copycat aspect and being in a group viewed historically as "privileged" - I feel like our culture is big on individuality, success v. failure, personal responsibility, etc. Nothing wrong with that, but for people who feel like they can't fit in and aren't respected and can't move forward - a small number who have mental health issues will have rage building within them until they want to send a message to society. They blame society - that's why they do it. It's much harder in modern society to avoid hearing constant judgments because we talk so much about everything, and you can't keep a low profile in your home community without much awareness of how others live. We have so much information, and so much communication, and such high standards of living and levels of choices - this is mostly good, but for people who can't process it, it's bad. Some turn to drugs, some have depression, some snap. Societies with more structure and fewer choices are less likely to have mass shooters, in my opinion. People who were absolutely insane used to be let out of asylums all the time for different reasons - lack of funding and security measures etc. - it was easy to get in, but also easy to get out. Pedophiles were not even punished. Murders could hardly be tracked. Yet we didn't have these shootings - there is a reason beyond institutions.
