An epidemic of lunacy

What hath Adam Lanza wrought?

The 20 year old who slaughtered nearly 2 dozen innocent children Friday before committing suicide wasn't the only one who had ideas about mass murder this close to Christmas. Consider:

In Oklahoma, an 18 year old wanted to recruit friends to lure other students into an enclosed room, lock up the room, and kill the duped victims. This guy was busted Friday morning, central time, presumably before the Newtown massacre, after police had received a tip on Thursday night.

In Southern California, a 40-something man opened fire in a crowded shopping mall on Saturday, shooting some 50 bullets in the air. No one was killed or injured, and the gunman in this case is presently cooling his heels in the local jail as well.

In Indiana, a 60 year old man with 47 different guns in his possession was also arrested Friday after he tried to first kill his wife, threatening to burn her to death if she fell asleep, then saying that if he wanted to, he'd go into a nearby elementary school. The way it was described by Yahoo! News, it sounds like Von Meyer, the Indiana man, might've wanted to duplicate what Lanza did in Newtown. However, because of his age, it's assumed that Meyer might be a little delusional. As was the case in Oklahoma, police were contacted on Thursday, and Meyer was arrested early Friday.

Back in Newtown, police were called to a Catholic church in the city this morning after some loser phoned in a bomb threat, forcing evacuation of the parish, which was standing room only in the wake of Friday's massacre. Police aren't sure if this was some prankster's idea of a sick joke. If it is, it isn't funny at all.

Will this madness ever stop? Eventually, but making amendments to existing gun control laws or implementing new ones isn't the answer. What is the answer, though, is identifying potential threats and addressing them in a civilized, professional manner before more innocents are harmed. Also, minimalizing the tabloid media's obsessive need to overanalyze these incidents needs to be addressed. Now.