The deadliest mass murder in a school in U.S. history took place in May 1927 in Bath Township, Michigan.
Wikipedia’s entry on the tragedy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_School_Disaster) says Andrew Kehoe “killed 38 elementary school children and six adults, and injured at least 58 other people. Kehoe first killed his wife, fire-bombed his farm and set off a major explosion in the Bath Consolidated School, before committing suicide by detonating a final explosion in his truck.”
Kehoe is said to have used a timed detonator to ignite hundreds of pounds of dynamite and incendiary pyrotol.
In September 1959, my wife and her brother survived a bombing at Poe Elementary School in Houston, Texas.
Six people, including the perpetrator, were killed, according to the Wikipedia listing,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe_Elementary_School_bombing .
The debate continues about limiting firearm magazine size or outlawing semi-automatic rifles (guns that require a separate pull of the trigger to fire bullets one-by-one) that resemble military rifles.
True assault rifles, capable of fully-automatic fire, have been strictly regulated since 1934.
But I have to wonder what might happen if new gun control initiatives make it more expedient for deranged killers to resort to real weapons of mass destruction.
- Dr. Gatling