Introduction

On the morning of December 1, 1997, in Paducah, Kentucky, fourteenyear- old Michael Carneal opened fire on a prayer group at Heath High School with a .22 pistol he had stolen, killing three students and injuring five others. According to Dave Grossman, a military psychiatrist and retired U.S. Army Ranger, Carneal fired only eight shots, hitting four students in the head, one in the neck, and three others in the upper torso. "Nowhere in the annals of military or law enforcement history," claims Grossman, "can we find an equivalent achievement." He maintains that "one state police study in an assessment of the accuracy of their officers across several years found that the average officer, in the average engagement, at the average distance of twenty-three feet, hit with 13 percent of the rounds fired." Carneal was not an experienced marksman. Reportedly, other than firing a few practice shots with the stolen...