In 1993, Americans seemed to turn more and more to guns to vent their frustrations, often in mass killings.
One of the worst incidents occurred on Dec. 7, when a man aboard a Long Island commuter train pulled a 9mm Ruger semiautomatic pistol and began firing.
Six people died. Twenty others were wounded or injured trying to get out of the way.
The gunman was wrestled to the floor of the train car by three commuters.
Police charged Colin Ferguson, 35, of Brooklyn, New York.
"The person who committed this crime is an animal who turned that Long Island Railroad car into a death chamber," said Nassau County Executive Thomas Gulotta.
Police said they found notes Ferguson was carrying indicating his hatred for whites, Orientals, "Uncle Tom Negroes," and "rich black attorneys."
Police said Ferguson apparently picked his victims at random.
Ferguson, who was born into a middle-class family in Jamaica, had no prior criminal record. Police said he had purchased the handgun legally in California.
Ferguson pleaded not guilty. At year's end he complained bitterly of mistreatment while in jail, and asked a court to replace his court-appointed attorney.
On July 1, a man with three semiautomatic weapons killed eight people and wounded six others before shooting himself to death at a highrise office building in San Francisco.
Police identified the man as Gian Luigi Ferre. They said he began his 15-minute rampage in the 34th floor offices of Pettit and Martin, a law firm that represented a client suing him.
A list of 50 people Ferre wanted to kill was found on his body. None of the victims was on the list.
On January 9, seven people were found shot to death in two coolers at Brown's Chicken and Pasta Restaurant in suburban Chicago. At the end of the year no one had been arrested.
On May 6, there were two multiple shootings at post offices in two cities.
In Dearborn, Mich., a man opened fire on workers in a post office garage where he worked. Police said Larry Jasion was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. He had apparently been upset that another worker was given a job he wanted.
He killed one co-worker and wounded two others.
A few hours later in Dana Point, Calif., police said a fired postal worker shot and killed a letter carrier and wounded a clerk. The man, Mark Hilbun, had been fired from the post office for harassing a female co-worker.
Hilbun escaped, and several hours later police found Hilbun's mother had been slain at her home in Corona del Mar.
Hilbun was arrested May 8 in Huntington Beach after patrons in a bar recognized him from police photos and called authorities.
In October in El Cajon, Calif., a weightlifter who was described as an angry loner opened fire with a 12-gauge shotgun in a fitness center.
He killed four people before going outside to his car and shooting himself. He was identified as James M. Buquet, 19, of Alpine. A friend of the family said Buquet had been depressed over a serious knee injury.
In early December in Oxnard, Calif., an out-of-work computer engineer who was said to have had a number of run-ins with government agencies, opened fire without warning in an unemployment office.
Police said Alan Winterbourne, 33, of Ventura, who had once run for Congress, killed three workers. He then fled the scene, chased by police. An officer, James E. O'Brien, 34, was slain during the chase before Winterbourne was shot and killed.
