It has been reported that this major, along with other soldiers on the base do NOT routinely carry army weapons. The major in question is believed to have used his privately owned automatic pistol, with numerous clips of bullets being used, to shoot his comrades.
Therefore the American gun laws certainly DO come into this matter.

Well, I am pretty sure that, even if he did use a privately-owned weapon, he would have had little difficulty in getting hold of an army weapon if required. That aside, I believe that the gun law issue is a sideshow in this case. It was clear that the shooter was acting in a premeditated way and gun laws, no matter how tight, cannot prevent someone determined to carry out such an attack from obtaining one. The real issue for me, especially after the Afghan attack on UK solidiers earlier this week, is how can any organisation (Afghan Army, US Army) weed out those who would cause harm. Distrust within service ranks is a most serious issue, IMHO. That, to me, is the crux of the matter. :-/ :-/