In one post on Vester Flanagan, the man who killed the reporter and cameraman in Virginia, Mercer apparently wrote, "I have noticed that so many people like [Flanagan] are alone and unknown, yet when they spill a little blood, the whole world knows who they are. A man who was known by no one, is now known by everyone. His face splashed across every screen, his name across the lips of every person on the planet, all in the course of one day. Seems like the more people you kill, the more you're in the limelight."
Perpetrators of mass shootings, like UCC shooter Chris Mercer, commit these atrocities to become infamous. By asking government agencies to not release the names and photos of shooters, we hope to eliminate the infamy that comes with this crime and deter copycats.