The fact that Dr. Hasan went postal is not surprising considering his profession as a psychiatrist. Psychiatry attracts mental cases not only as patients but as practitioners, which is not to say that most of them are not to be trusted with weapons. However if one uses suicide rates as a rough index of mental health then psychiatrists are one of the least healthy and medical professionals in general are also low on the list.
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2301/do-dentists-have-the-highest-suicide-rate
The same thing is true of the military or ex-military, of which the Postal Service is full. Acquiring a knowledge of guns and the technology of warfare is just one step in the direction of actually using that technology, which leads to some unhappy results. Sorting mail might not be any more mind-bending than any other incredibly boring activity, however bored and resentful ex-military is a dangerous combination, as muttering darkly that your supervisor "ought to be shot" is more worrisome if the person doing the muttering owns and knows how to use weapons.
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