The psycho random knife attack in California a week ago left four dead and got very little news coverage. Several mass knife attacks in Japan have left dozens dead in recent years.

Suicidal pilots have killed hundreds in the last 20 years — Egypt Air, Germanwings, Malaysia Airlines 370, and others. Thousands dead if you count 9/11.

The Columbine killers were trying to blow the school up. They could have killed a lot more if their bombs had gone off, not to mention spawning copy cat killers. And of course there was McVeigh and the Tsaernev brothers. The fire bombing of the Japanese anime studio is another example.

It is mental illness and — like you said — the 15 minutes of fame driving these mass killings. Take away the media coverage, and I believe most of it goes away.