The current claims bylaw enforcement sources are that Lanza was treating mass murder as a video game score that he felt compelled to beat Breivik at. Breivik had his own gaming obsessions and seemed to be living in an imaginary world where he was the leader of an army of crusader knights.
Crazy people are basically crazy. Still it would appear from this that Lanza knew entirely what he was doing and that the obsessive publicity that the media gave to the Breivik case may have inspired the Newtown massacre.
Naturally we won’t be calling for a video game ban or a media ban, because attacking the First Amendment because of a madman’s actions is wrong. But somehow attacking the Second Amendment isn’t.
Law enforcement sources say Adam Lanza was motivated by violent video games and a strong desire to kill more people than another infamous mass murderer.
Sources say Lanza saw himself as being in direct competition with Anders Breivik, a Norwegian man who killed 77 people in July 2011.
Two officials who have been briefed on the Newtown, Conn., investigation say Lanza wanted to top Breivik’s death toll and targeted nearby Sandy Hook Elementary School because it was the “easiest target” with the “largest cluster of people.”
Evidence shows that his mind, sources say, Lanza was also likely acting out the fantasies of a video game as he killed 20 first graders and six adults at the school. For Lanza, the deaths apparently amounted to some kind of “score.”
Officials have not publicly revealed what led them to the motive, but sources say investigators have found evidence Lanza was obsessed with Breivik.
They’ve also recovered what they called a “trove” of video games from the basement of Lanza’s home. Sources say Lanza spent countless hours there alone, in a private gaming room with the windows blacked out, honing his computer shooting skills.
It’s rather unlikely that Lanza shared Breivik’s confused muddle of politics. Rather he wanted to be the world’s biggest serial killer.
He apparently chose the Gun-Free Zone of a school because it was an easy target. And like Breivik he targeted the underage.
If the media had not provided compulsive coverage of the Breivik shootings, would Adam Lanza have developed an ambition to top his ‘score’?