By Clive Williams
Australians are both fascinated and appalled by the regular occurrence of mass killings in the US. As a child growing up in Malaya I had a similar reaction to the occasional accounts of a local person “running amok” – which was the Malayan equivalent of the American mass killing. Since the weapon normally used was a parang knife, the number of fatalities was never very high. (The FBI defines mass murder as at least four deaths at one event.)
What makes the American incidents particularly deadly is the ready availability of semi-automatic firearms. Interestingly, the first reaction of many Americans after these massacres is to go out and buy firearms to protect themselves – rather than lobby for gun controls.
There are several different types of mass killer – the rampage killer who targets public places like shopping malls and theatres (as with the Aurora killer), the spree killer who over a short period of time moves from place to place killing as he goes (like Derrick Bird in Cumbria in 2010), and then there is the grudge killer who may target family members, a defined group of people, an education facility, or his workplace. The serial killer is a different category. He kills regularly to get a sexual high, but usually claims a single victim at a time. Most of these killers seem to act alone; but very occasionally have a close associate (as at Columbine). Another category is the politically-motivated killer, like Breivik in Norway or Kaczynski the Unabomber.
James Holmes, the Aurora suspect, seems to fall into the first category mentioned i.e., the rampage killer. They are intelligent paranoid loners with poorly integrated personalities who resent the rest of society, or feel they are different. They fantasize about becoming antiheroes (like Holmes’ alter ego, the Joker) and becoming famous. They usually pre-plan an attack over a long period of time – but are poor on post-planning. When they initiate an attack, they either end up getting killed, killing themselves, or being captured. The trigger for the attack, once they have the means to cause a mass killing, is often despair caused by female rejection. Mass killers are invariably men because for them the act of killing is an expression of empowerment and masculinity. The same holds true for those who hunt animals for sport.
It is of course hard to spot them beforehand because that personality-type is not unusual in our society. The danger arises when they become alienated from society and have the means to cause mass casualties – which usually means the possession of firearms and/or explosives. People close to them know who they are, but since they are family members or close friends are often disinclined to seek help.
Violent video games could be an aggravating factor for loner attacks. Past mass killers have often spent a lot of time playing violent video games like World of Warcraft and first-person shooter games. Before his attack, Breivik spent up to seven hours a day playing World of Warcraft. However lots of people play these games and seem normal enough. Perhaps the main concern should be the skill sets acquired through these games that facilitate mass killing.
Availability of firearms is a significant issue in the US, where there are at least 270 million firearms – and that situation seems unlikely to change. There are more votes in allowing citizens to bear arms than there are in gun control. The usual claim of the National Rifle Association (of which Mitt Romney is a life member) is that gun controls and buybacks affect the honest citizen, leaving him or her defenseless against the criminals, terrorists, and crazies who can still access firearms. It is estimated that eight million firearms are manufactured globally each year, and four and a half million of them are sold in the US.
In terms of firearms homicides, the US has around 9,400 a year, compared to around 60 in Australia. Given that the population of the US is roughly 15 times that of Australia, 60 here equates to about 900 in the US for a comparable population number. This suggests that firearms are 10 times more likely to be used to commit homicides in the US than is the case in Australia. Preparedness to use firearms also seems to be a cultural issue. Canada with a population of 34.5 million has a high level of gun ownership, but only around 150 firearms deaths a year.
In Australia, Martin Bryant’s deadly rampage in 1996 killed 35 people and led to the gun buyback scheme, which resulted in the destruction of 650,000 firearms. A surge of gun imports in recent years has seen the total number of firearms in Australia slowly creeping up. Estimates of the number now vary anywhere between 2.7-4.3 million – or up to one firearm for every five people. (The US ratio is nine guns for every 10 people.)
Like Holmes, Bryant used an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle. The AR-15 went on to become the M-16, capable of automatic fire, used widely by militaries in Vietnam and elsewhere, and now being issued to the Afghan National Army. Bryant also used an L1A1 SLR, a very capable 7.62mm semi-automatic rifle that was once in use with the Australian Army. The 7.62mm round has an 800 metre range and is capable of penetrating through a single layer of bricks. We still have tight restrictions on semi-automatic/automatic military weapon ownership, but according to the World Bank’s comparative data, the asking price in Australia for an AK-47 7.62mm assault rifle is only US$600.
We should not therefore be complacent that a rampage killing could not occur again in Australia. The Breivik massacre showed that ASIO should be part of the screening process for gun club membership and gun ownership. Many applicants would not have police records, but may have come to security notice for other reasons.
There is still however the potential for illegal firearms acquisition. The Australian Institute of Criminology’s Firearm Theft in Australia 2006-07 publication estimates around 1,500 firearms are stolen each year with correspondingly low recovery rates. Then of course a potential mass killer also has the explosive option, with homemade explosives being easy to make. The Amundsen case in Queensland in 2006 showed that commercial explosives are also available if you know the right people. Amundsen, a highly-intelligent loner with right-wing affiliations, acquired 53 kg of Powergel mining explosive, apparently to use against his girlfriend’s parents.
Since most of the loner potential killers are known to someone beforehand, it should be possible to identify them anonymously to the Australian national security hotline or Crime Stoppers. The question then of course is what the system is going to do about them. Care facilities for the potentially violent are greatly under-resourced. The unfortunate likelihood is that nothing will be done about these issues until another mass killing occurs in Australia.
Clive Williams is an Adjunct Professor at Macquarie University’s Centre for Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism, and a Visiting Professor at the Australian National University’s Australian Centre for Military and Security Law.
