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Mass murderes and spree killers desire to kill as many people as possible and therefore choose a method that will let them kill a lot of people. If they won't use a gun they can use a bomb (they can find instructions on the net for something destructive) or even a car.
Yes and no.
They could try these things and occasionally have.
But there are practical limits to other weapons that don't apply to guns.
Bows and arrows and swords require a fair bit of skill and athletic ability to use effectively. Also bows cannot be fired as rapidly as guns limiting how many they can kill. Guns do not have any where near as much of this weakness.
Bombs take even more skill to make as demonstrated by the number of would be bombers who blew themselves up. Directions on the internet and actually making a functioning bomb are not the same. It could be done if someone survives the sharp learning curve. The unabomber did it for years. But even there there are limitations: malfunctions, missed targets, early detection.
And the fact that bombs can be used for mass killings doesnt' work logically as an argument against gun regulation since after having a few bombs, we have moved to track and regulate the materials to make bombs. It would be much harder for another Timothy McVeigh to pull off another oklahoma city bombing.
Also and this is anecdotal but spree killers just seem to prefer guns. Some have had bombs in their possession but always as a back up or booby trap.
It should be noted that with 16 bombs over the span of years, the Unabomber killed 3 people and injured 23. This latest shooting beat him by a mile in less then an hour.Knives can actually be more lethal then guns in close proximity. But the operative words here are "close proximity". Yes one can throw a knife but once you do you can't use it again without going after it. Plus the equivalent number of knives to the number of bullets in high capacity magazine would be pretty bulky. (how heavy would 60 to 100 knives be? and how quickly could someone throw them as opposed to shooting bullets)
Also there are far more ways for someone trained in self defense to defend one's self from a knife then from a gun. (a friend showed me once. It requires the gunman to be close, slow and stupid and maybe you might do it)
And cars are just impractical as a means to kill a large number of people unless you can get them all lined up in a row on a street and keep them from moving.
Ever try to sneak a car inside a building? The metal detector is the least of your problems.
So yes in that one could use other weapons to commit a mass murder.
But no in that the odds are against you getting as high a death count before being stopped or everybody escaping.
If one is going to go on a murder spree.... guns are most efficient way to do it.
That's why we invented the things. To make killing fast and easy.
