Early in the morning of Sept. 4, 1913, Ernst Wagner murdered his wife and four children in the town of Degerloch, Germany. Then he went to Mühlhausen, where he feared the townsmen were mocking him for having sex with an animal. He opened fire and hit 20 people, killing at least nine...

It’s probably a mistake to think that we can ever know what “caused” these rampages. But when you read through the assessments that have been done by the F.B.I., the Secret Service and various psychologists, you see certain common motifs...

The crucial point is that the dynamics are internal, not external. These killers are primarily the product of psychological derangements, not sociological ones...

Agree? Disagree?

You forgot to include a link to the article, I assume it's this one: More Treatment Programs.

To start with, we should be aware that David Brooks is a well-known crank who likes to push his own personal opinion onto issues whilst pretending that his opinions are backed up by science; which he generally does by abusing whatever scientific field is in favour at the moment. Mark Liberman over at LanguageLog has a collection of articles on Brooks, and there are some links to various articles here.

As for the article itself, this part is the clear mistake:

The crucial point is that the dynamics are internal, not external. These killers are primarily the product of psychological derangements, not sociological ones.

Assuming that these mass murderers did have psychological disorders (a controversial and unevidenced claim in itself), where does he think psychological derangements come from? Do they appear spontaneously, within a vaccum? No, a large component is the society and environmental variables which contribute to their 'psychological derangement'.

Looking at guns, looking at video games — that’s starting from the wrong perspective. People who commit spree killings are usually suffering from severe mental disorders.

I'm surprised that he was allowed to actually publish that paragraph.

(Also, happy birthday!).