Proof we need to reopen the mental hospitals closed down in the 1970s. When closed and the crazies dumped on the streets the mass murder rate took off like a rocket.
Before 1970 I can recall three(3) mass shootings of innocent people. Other mass murders were mostly organized criminal gangs fighting over territory. (St Valentine’s day Massacre)
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/.../story-first-mass.../
1949, Howard Unruh who murdered 13 people with a Luger pistol.
1966, Richard Speck who murdered eight student nurses. His weapon was a KNIFE.
1966, Charles Whitman in Texas who murdered 16 people. His primary weapon was a bolt action hunting rifle although he murdered family members with a knife.
And yet, semi-auto rifles had been on the market since 1903. Here is a nice Remington available to anyone over the counter in 1906. Cash and carry, no paperwork, no waiting period. Also no mass murders.
https://www.guns.com/news/2015/09/30/remington-model-8-browning-semi-automatic-sporting-rifle
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Land_fire