Reply #112: Nobody ever "just snaps"

[Euromutt]

Suggested reading: The Gift of fear by Gavin de Becker. The whole idea that people "just snap" and become homicidal (or suicidal) without any warning is a myth. There are always warning signs, but we don't know how to recognize them for what they are, or we're conditioned to ignore them, or we're too embarrassed afterward to admit we saw something coming but didn't do anything until it was too late.

The bulk of homicide is committed by people who already have a prior history of criminal (usually violent) behavior; very few people go from being model citizens directly to committing unlawful aggravated assault or homicide with a firearm.

There have been a few shooting incidents in Starbucks stores, but none of them was a case of a CCW permit holder "snapping."
There was the triple murder at a Starbucks in D.C. in July 1997, which was a botched robbery; at the time, it was practically impossible to legally own a handgun in D.C., let alone carry it.
In April 2008, a candidate for the House of Representatives was shot in a robbery of a Starbucks in Indianapolis.
In July 2008, two men were shot in a Starbucks in western Atlanta, GA, in what appears to have been a targeted hit on one, a former Atlanta city attorney.
In May 2009, there was shooting at a Starbucks in Salinas, CA. Motive unknown, but the Monterey County Sheriff's Dept. is notoriously reticent to issue CCW permits, so it's hardly likely it was some permit holder "snapping" (especially since Salinas also has quite a bit of gang activity).