Sword Play

A few months ago, I posted about a couple of incidents where sword-wielding persons either inflicted harm on each other or robbed businesses with the unconventional weapon. The use of the sword seems to be becoming more widespread. A recent incident ended in the death of a man who broke into a college student's garage in Baltimore; another student in Texas attacked his roommates after finding a soda can in his room.
A quick Google search will bring up a dozen more stories from the past few years of this happening, with varied outcomes. Have guns and regular knives become passe? Or is this just a sign of the economic hardships plaguing our country's good citizens? Or are we just becoming just a little more psychotic every year? I'm definitely not crazy, but I have several friends that own samurai swords, katanas or other various menacing-looking weapons. As for me, I'll just stick to my baseball bats, knifes and asps, thank you very much.
I wonder what the Samurai would think of this. I really hope that crazy isn't contagious.