"I remember the Ritalin controversy," Jessica said. "I guess we were sheltered, being home-schooled. It seemed like something that happened, almost, in another world."

"Ritalin was long known to be severely damaging," Gordon said, "long after it was no longer being taken. Most drugs of that type cause some type of permanent damage. Especially when combined with others. Prozac and Xanax, and numerous others. That was dangerous enough by itself."

"So these damaged kids, some of them," Darrell said, "went to school and killed people. And you think they were being manipulated? So the incidents could be used to lobby for more anti-gun laws."

"Exactly." Gordon said. "We knew that law enforcement, mostly state but sometimes federal, used entrapment tactics to catch pedophiles and other exploiters of children." Gordon said. "They would have adults posing as underage children, or as parents willing to allow their children to be used. Try to entice a respondent into a meeting where they are arrested and charged with attempted something or other. That might seem like a legitimate activity, but in fact it was only done to advance the careers of those doing it. And it rarely caught an actual criminal because the real predators are too smart to be trapped that way. They get marginal potential offenders who let their curiosity overcome caution.

"This was actually easier. You have young people with mental problems, aggravated by dangerous psychotropic drugs, who are easily pushed over the edge. They made contact with them in chat rooms, typically, and encouraged them to do what they were contemplating. Like telling the guy on the ledge to jump."

"So they were finding people predisposed to commit irrational, violent acts." said Darrell "And encouraging them to do it. It takes a rather twisted sort of person to do that."

Balance of Power (Enak Nomolos)