Originally Posted by Rochard

Of course it does. It empowers them.

If you give someone a knife or a baseball bat or a crowbar, they might feel slightly empowered to hurt one person. You give that same person an AR15 they KNOW they can kill multiple people AND cause mass damage.

The people who do pick up a firearm and shoot people do not have the courage to do the same with a knife or a baseball bat or a crowbar.

At the same time, it gives the killer "distance" from the act of killing. Shooting someone with a firearm is quick, easy, painless, effortless, and has a small amount of risk. Killing someone with a baseball bat or a crowbar is messy, requires strength, and has a lot of risk - And you are not going to be attacking 25 people in five minutes.