An interesting article, BillD. I think it is important to note that the dramatic decline in murders since 1993 (or whatever year the peak was), came after an equally dramatic increase in murders leading up to 1993-there was a "crack epidemic", and of course, we were at the at the end of the Reagan-Bush era, so you can sort the causes out however you want. Now, murder rates have fallen to where they were in the early 1960's, which is about where they had been for decades.

Actually, it appears that when the regular murders spiked, the "mass murders" remained at the normal rate, which is where they are now. The regular murders are back at their normal level now--wo when you look back twenty years, there's been a sharp decline, but if you look farther back, they are about the same as they've been for a long time.

That's what is called "cold comfort'...