[ a bunch of interesting stuff, but then ... ]
> it is inarguable that, without a high powered assault
> rifle, he couldn't have mowed down 20 first graders and
> their teachers in a matter of minutes.
I'll take the other side of that argument. Here's a recent example of the kind of "performance" someone (in this case, shockingly, a cop against an unarmed black man) can "accomplish" with "only" a pistol:
http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Furor-over-footage-of-police-shooting-4113400.php
"Moody fired 13 bullets in 4.2 seconds, investigators wrote, striking Duenez 11 times, including four shots while Duenez was on the ground."
... be sure to watch the video, if you dare.
I don't think it takes a lot of imagination to see that a determined person could easily kill 26 (or more) unarmed children and teachers in that scenario with whatever weapon he chose.
http://www.china.org.cn/wap/2010-04/29/content_19933751.htm
28 kindergarten children injured in knife attack
April-29-2010
Twenty-eight children and three adults were injured when a man with a knife attacked them at a kindergarten in east China Thursday.
Five of the children are critically ill in hospital after the attack in the Zhongxin Kindergarten in Taixing City, Jiangsu Province, said city government and police sources.
Many of the injured children are 4 years old and of the same class.
Police have detained a 47-year-old man who is alleged to have carried out the attack at about 9:30 a.m., said a Taixing Police spokesman.
The three adults have been identified as two kindergarten teachers and a security guard.
This was the second knife attack on children in China in two days. A man attacked 16 pupils and one teacher with a knife at a primary school in south China's Guangdong Province Wednesday afternoon.
Five of the injured schoolers in the Guangdong attack case are still critically ill in hospital by Thursday morning. The man identified as Chen Kangbing has been detained by police in Leizhou City of Guangdong.
/jordan