I also agree that assault weapons should be banned. As I said before, I am an advocate of strong gun control and enforcement. I do think that would cut down on some shootings. But, as I also said before, I don't know if an assault weapons ban would have made a difference in this case. People who are deranged and hell bent on committing mass murder are not going to let the law stop them - they will get their hands on what they want, legal or not. As Topkat mentioned, there was a ban in effect in the '90's, and it didn't stop the Paducah, KY, Columbine, or other massacres during that time.
That's why I say we have to search for other answers, and do more to prevent these massacres by trying to identify behaviors in deranged people before they act.
Well, I couldn't disagree with this statement more. There are definitely ways to identify sociopathic behaviors. My point is we just need to get a lot better at doing it rather than accepting the idea that there is no way to tell that someone is a psychopath until after they snap. We may not be able to "throw people in jail for saying something a bit sick or being mentally ill", but we can commit them to a mental institution and try to give the help they need before they harm others.