The Las Vegas Shooter: A random loon or something more?

Many people have been struck by many odd things about the Las Vegas shooting, but I haven't heard anyone comment on the following:
* Considering how rare SAW is, where and how exactly did our criminal mastermind become so proficient with it? If it was legally obtained, the police will be able to trace the purchase to a specific location, and some ranges would have records of it. Otherwise, where did he practice?
* For someone "not into guns", he sure appeared to be comfortable with a great variety of firearms. Once again, he had to have been purchasing those weapons somewhere and learning how to use them with ease somewhere. Not just shoot, but set them up.
* Since when is a real estate investor so good at calculating trajectories for maximum efficiency of shooting?
* The gambling story could have been just a rumor.... so far, there is no evidence to show that he had indeed suffered great losses or wins over the years, just that he attended casinos.
* His own brother claims that he was not into politics, religion, or guns. But frankly, there was something odd about his brother. Could he have simply been lying or maybe he just didn't know his brother well?
* Terrorist organizations generally don't try to hide the ends.
* The girlfriend was there for only about a year. Where and how did they meet? She disappeared to Phillipines for the duration of this episode, only to come right back for police questioning. Was there anyone in the US who could corroborate her story?
* Any person leaves traces - some are deliberate and some are inadvertent. Violent sociopaths usually leave many red flags and engage in a variety of illegal activity before finally being caught, killed or uncovered. Even sneaky serial killers leave clues and make people uneasy as they grow up. Yet no hundreds of witnesses are popping up to spill the beans on Stephen Paddock.
* Why did he have all those explosives in his car if he went into his room ready to die? Also, why did he need all the weapons back home if he was going to his mission, ready to die?
* His personal handgun shows that he knew what to do to avoid being arrested. But did he go in knowing that's how things would end?
* If he is a random loon gone postal, his emails and online activity may lead us to where and how his purchased his weapons. If he is anything other than that, he probably took steps to make it more difficult to trace him back.
* Terrorist organizations usually make it painfully clear that their loyal soldiers are terrorist. Paddock does not fit the profile of a disaffected youth radicalized by online propaganda.
* Eerily, the attack on Congressmen in June seems to have been planned by the same type of person in a similar manner as this one - the attacker took time to figure out and observe the target after moving to the area some time, but not too long, before the attack, was a somewhat of a loner, white man in his sixtees. But the Las Vegas attacked was far better calculated and required a lot of resources and organization. How would someone who was never into guns even know how to put all of that together? My guess is that you don't plan something like that without first doing a) advance work and b) doing trial runs somewhere. Did our man engage in any sorts of trainings or scenario role playing? Did he ever fire from above ground locations? All of that is worthy of investigating.

Paddock: A Selfish Loon or a Terrorist?

Terrorists are counting on their actions to have mass effect.

They are looking to maximize the number of victims and to spread  panic among the public.

Whatever Stephen Paddock's affiliation, political background, or underlying views, there is no question that he was looking to facilitate the greatest number of victims. The issue is whether he was merely seeking revenge on the world for some perceived personal wrong or whether he was politically motivated.

I tend to doubt that it was some professional grievance, such as a firing, that set him off, because this action was not taken against his past employers. Either there was some deeply personal issue no one knows about involving country music, Las Vegas, or some group of people he had a grievance with, or there was some underlying social or political point he was trying to make, and I think the latter is more likely based on how much care he appears to have taken to hide his motivations.

Many mass shooters who are not politically motivated have a history of aggressive self-expression, rhetoric, drawings, or odd behavior that catches attention along the way but is not analyzed and processed in good time. It's indeed possible that Paddock's family and close associates simply ignored what should have been obvious red flags.

But even careful planners of mass shootings generally give away some level of grievance over time. If Paddock's brother is accurate, and the murderer was so secretive that no one knew what he was up to nor had any reason to believe that something extraordinary was going on, he was likely involved in some social or political cause.

Active Shooter Training Saves Lives

I hate to say it, but IF there was just one guy (the one who killed himself - Paddock), who had ten guns, then at some point he would have had to reload or change his guns. If only someone had shot him or a group of people jumped him at that time, many lives may have been saved. There should be active shooter training in every city.