If you could get away with it...

...what wouldn't you do? Yesterday there was another public shooting in the U.S.: a 60-year old bloke in Florida shot up a Wendy's, killed a fireman, and then turned the gun on himself.

Now, think of this not as a "senseless tragedy", but for what it is: a murder-suicide. I've found myself interested more and more in these seemingly random shootings in the States, particularly those that end in shooter suicide. As a fatalist, and a nihilist, I don't think there's anything waiting for us at the end of our lives.* With that in mind, there's no cosmic consequence for the actions we take.

Now consider suicide. If I decided that I wanted to die, that I was done here and I'm finished up, what would prevent me from doing whatever I wanted before I kicked off? This is the context I approach these recent shootings in. People who want to die, and going out with, dare I say it, a bang!

Think about it: if you could get away with it, what wouldn't you do? Odds are if you think about it - really think about it - you'll probably think of quite a few things you'd like to do. Am I suggesting that you go out and do them? Of course not; I have no intention of killing myself, and so the things I say come with consequences. However, if I was done with living, and there was no way of being held accountable...

Most people I've spoken to, if they have a good, objective look at the situation, agree that there's a lot they would do if they knew they'd get away with it. Honestly, I don't know what I'd do if I could do whatever I wanted. But if you ever read a story about a man completely fucked up on equal parts cocaine, skunk weed and acid, who stole a Lamborghini, ran over pedestrians in the middle of Melbourne at 150kph and drove the fucker off a jetty in Docklands before shooting himself in the head, spare a thought for the dearly departed who's blog you'll never read again.

*If you think I'm wrong, that's fine. Believe what you want. But since you can't prove it, don't email me.