"Guns don't kill people..."

Let me apologise straight away for such a solemn post.

I am watching the BBC talk about the Connecticut school Shooting. There is a lot of talk about gun control. It is of course, important to debate the laws on such potentially dangerous things but for me, there is a more fundamental question:

"Why would anyone do such a thing?"

This seems a more important question than debating controls on tools (e.g. bombs, guns, poison, etc.).

There can be no question that the person knew what they were doing was wrong. What did they hope to gain? Why doesn't, even the thought of such a thing make them feel sick, like it does the rest of us? Why does this seem to happen more in America than elsewhere? Would reducing press coverage of such things take away some of the motive?

I would ask that people use this thread for a constructive debate and not hundreds of anti-US posts or posts calling for the guy to burn in hell.