I scanned the above from the April 17 edition of The Daily Breeze, a newspaper in Southern California's South Bay. It summarizes school shootings over the past 40+ years.
Something about it strikes me as more than coincidental. It's as if all of these random acts in different locales spanning decades had some common thread, some shared factor, but I can't quite put my finger on it.
What could shootings at the University of Texas and Kent State University and Cal State Fullerton and the University of Iowa and San Diego State and the University of Arkansas and the Appalachian School of Law* and the University of Arizona and Shepherd University and Virginia Tech possibly have in common?
I feel like the answer is staring me in the face, like it's something obvious. Give me some time. It may come to me.
* I couldn't find a weapons policy for the Appalachian School of Law, but note that those reports which admitted students with firearms subdued the killer (most simply said they tackled him) said they had to run to their cars to retrieve them.