Hasbeen,
The (speculative) reports I've seen suggest Lanza was mildly autistic, just like the Virginia Tech shooter but in coming days we'll learn that he was on SSRI medication or under the supervision of a psychiatrist, I'll lay money on it. All these guys seem to come from working/middle class backgrounds, have access to psychiatric care and have been medicated with powerful mind altering drugs at a young age, off the top of my head I can't think think of a school spree killer who was poor or disadvantaged.
If it's now beyond doubt that there is no safe limit for people under 25 for even milder psychoactive substances such as weed and alchohol we have to accept that these more powerful mind altering drugs can cause lasting brain damage as well,

This is not the first thread on this subject.
It will not be the last, America sadly, will make headlines like these in the new year.
Gun Culture,both words play a roll.
But we would never consider Florida's shoot first policy.
We never would let hand guns be in just any ones hands.
The ARA Americas gun Lobbyist group, funded by ? the very gun industry! would not sway us as it does in America.
I am not anti American, America is anti American!
To find an answer first fix, American justice system.
Honesty from those who police,is not currently there.
Consider the costs of prison, in a country that says life is 60 or even 80 years, costs lets many gun criminals out .
Fix what ever it is the makes Americans think they need a gun.
They may well, to protect them selves from? someone like them.
IF Obama ACTS TO LIMIT WHO OWNS A GUN? HE RISKS ASSASSINATION!
What a strange fear filled country.

Yes I read in today's paper that the killer had Asperger's syndrome . They don't usually have medications for that. I agree that mental health problems are probably to blame for at least some of the gun-related atrocities in the US, but there are others that are just plain evil!

The point remains however, that guns allow for mass killings, are portable and easily concealed, and are easy to obtain in the US- especially those guns that are capable of killing many people quickly.

I hope our gun laws are never relaxed any further. I don't care about other countries, but Australia often seems to follow the US in some areas of Government.

I agree with most of the comments on this thread, except for the bizarre testosterone drivel...

This latest tragedy in the United States must
surely confirm, even to the most ardent gun holders,
that there needs to be some kind of measurable change
to reform the way in which guns and gun violence is
handled in their country.

Surely some of the guns that are so easily available,
don't belong on the streets of cities.
Banning certain types of weapons, as well as doing
background checks on people, should be mandatory.

However, it seems that nothing much will probably change
in the United States. As New York's Mayor Bloomberg
stated:

"Calling for 'meaningful action' is not enough. We need
immediate action. We've heard this rhetoric before...
what we haven't seen is leadership - not from the
White House and not from Congress."

Firstly, I find this story extremely hard to deal with. I saw the first reports early yesterday morning online - and I chose not to pursue the story on TV. I've only just gone back to the story online....

Suze,

Regarding medicating those with Aspergers or those at the high end of the autistic spectrum in general....you may be surprise to note that a great many parents are encouraged to medicate their (high-functioning) children at school - so they will sit down and shut up - and to assist in general those independent minds to imbibe information while at the institution. I've heard parents brag that they only dose up their kids for the school term, taking them off medication during the holidays. That it often takes a child up to six weeks to adjust to the changes, doesn't seem to occur to them.

In any case, the principal problem with the US is their entrenched gun culture:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/jun/09/usa.usgunviolence

"On an average day, eight Americans aged 19 or under are killed by firearms..."

That's eight a day - 365 days in the year - Americans "19 years and younger".

31,000 deaths a year, many more woundings - more deaths from firearms in a year than all the deaths during the entire Vietnam war...so this is civilisation?

While not arguing one way or another for what the US should do, here is a different view some may wish to consider.

There are some who argue that the massive buyback of firearms by the Howard government certainly made the workplace safer for criminals, as they are less likely to find home owners with access to firearms.

http://freestudents.blogspot.com.au/2007/04/when-mass-killers-meet-armed-resistance.html