Analysis: Orlando rampage reflects frightening convergence of terrorism and mass shootings

The deadly attack at an Orlando nightclub early Sunday is raising serious concerns among global security experts and criminologists about a convergence between terrorism and the American phenomenon of mass shootings.

Armed with an AR-15 - the weapon of choice for mass shooters - Omar Mateen pledged allegiance to the Islamic State during an attack that killed 50 people at a popular gay club called Pulse, authorities said. The rampage echoed several recent high-profile terrorist attacks on US soil in which extremist sympathisers used firearms instead of explosives, once a terrorism staple.

Nidal Malik Hasan, a follower of radical imam Anwar al-Awlaki, gunned down 13 people in 2009 at Fort Hood, Texas. Last July, Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez, seeking martyrdom, fatally shot five service members in Tennessee. And late last year, not long after terrorists in Paris shot up cafes and a theatre, a radicalised couple in San Bernardino, California, killed 14 people at an office holiday party.

Terrorism and mass shooting experts say the use of firearms in terror attacks, particularly among lone wolves, is probably not a coincidence. For attackers without direct ties to experts in terrorist networks, the nearly 60,000 gun dealers in the US offer plenty of high-calibre options.

“It’s becoming increasingly apparent that mass shootings can be just as deadly as bombings,” said Adam Lankford, a University of Alabama criminal justice professor and author of a book on mass shooters and suicide bombers. “And the scary part is that it’s often much easier to pull off.”