The big news last night and today is the report of a man who killed his mother, burned down her house with her inside, then went on a shooting spree. No one seems to know why, but I expect a lot of people will be blaming the gun.

Alabama State Trooper John Reese told "Good Morning America" this morning. "We are still unclear of what caused the incident."

The "incident" was a killing spree that began in Kinston, Ala., just north of the Florida line, with the death of McClendon's mother. Reese said it remains unclear whether McLendon killed his mother before shooting her dogs and burning down her house.

Police say the heavily-armed McLendon then got into his car and drove through two towns, stopping or slowing down to fire shots at people on their porches, at a gas station or on the street.

Toward the end of his rampage,McLendon engaged in a running gun battle with police who tried to ram his car to stop him.

"He opened up on us with an AK-47," said Geneva Police Chief Frankie Lindsey, who was wounded in the shoulder. "That's what it looked like. It could have been an M-16, but it was an assault rifle, automatic. And he burst about 15 to 18 rounds on our vehicle, all at once."

"It looked like he was trying to kill us. There's no doubt about it," Lindsey said. "We were face-to-face with him. He just put the weapon out the window and let go a burst."

If it was a fully automatic weapon, there are numerous existing laws which make them almost impossible to obtain legally, and of course converting a legal semi-auto to full-auto is highly illegal (and requires considerable expertise).

The man was certainly a murderer and a gunman, but he was also an arsonist. The fire he started could have spread and killed just as many people as whatever weapon he used. This was another awful crime spree, but I don't see why people focus on the means used by the criminals.

In light of reports that the target of the man's wrath was a metal company which laid him off, it would make about as much sense to blame the economy.

I blame the guy who did this, and secondarily if turned out he was another of the numerous mental patients who don't get adequate treatment, I might also be inclined to blame the mental health system.

But the one common denominator I've seen in nearly every shooting case is that it's just not emotionally satisfying for people to blame the individual who did it. Nor is it politically satisfying.

So whatever happens, I expect this to result in another push to reinstate the useless and illogical "assault weapons" ban.

UPDATE: It now appears that the shooter (Michael McLendon) had been employed as a police officer and had multiple guns:

Armed with two assault rifles, a shotgun and a .38-calibre handgun, McLendon then headed for his grandmother's house 12 miles away in Samson.

He shot his grandmother, Virginia White, 74; his uncle Alfred White, 55; his cousin Tracy Wise, 34; and his nephew Dean Wise, 15.

McLendon also killed the wife and 18-month-old daughter of a local police officer -- Andrea Myers and Corinne --who werevisiting the house from their home near by. The officer's baby daughter, Ella, was wounded by a bullet fragment but survived.

Joshua Myers, the police officer who lost his wife and child, was responding to the emergency when they were shot. "Igot a call to come home, and when I arrived, I found my wife and daughter," he said.

McLendon then drove on, firing randomly at passers-by.

He killed James Starling, 24, who happened to be walking near his grandmother's house. He also shot dead Sonya Lolley Smith, 23, at a petrol station; and Bruce Malloy, a customer at the Samson Pipe and Supply shop.

Driving on to Geneva, 12 miles away, McLendon met a police roadblack on Highway 52. An officer rammed McLendon's Mitsubishi Eclipse, knocking him off the road. He responded with a volley of automatic fire that missed the officer by inches.