Despite two armed police officers and multiple civilians firing back at him for much of the time. I've heard SWAT teams were created as a direct response to that incident; Oslo has one--but it was downtown dealing with a bombing of the federal government and multiple suspicious packages found near the scene. It was the equivalent of someone bombing the White House, or Congress, and you can't tell me police response time to a summer camp on a tiny island in the Potomac wouldn't be delayed after that. Utøya is close enough to Oslo that it IS their police force, but far enough outside the city limits to provide an appealing vacation spot--and slow police response times, particularly when they're already dealing with a terrorist attack on the seat of government. Add to that the fact you can only get there by water or air and you have a recipe for disaster if someone can make it out there dressed for war while the whole police force is busy downtown.

Brievik created a very effective diversion to occupy most of the police force for an extended time (as his "instructions" encourage potential followers to do), then traveled to a secluded and densely wooded area to which he gained entry as much because of that diversion as because of his convincingly counterfeited police uniform and ID. Remember, cops don't carry guns here unless they have strong and urgent need, and yes, they had (unarmed party) security on the island; normally they'd NEVER have let him cross, but he claimed to be a policeman coming to secure and protect the area in response to the bombing. He used that same pretext to gather the campers in a building when he arrived, where they were easy prey when he began indiscriminately shooting them. Locals who lived on the shore did, in fact, intervene to help fleeing victims, and were fired at in response. If you honestly think an unprotected man with a deer rifle could take out a guy with an automatic in body armor and heavy woods from half a kilometer away I suppose there's not much I can do to change your mind. Since most of the campers were calling their parents or the real cops instead of locals whose number they just happened to know I find it unlikely that many of them responded much more quickly than the police.

I've had to visit the police several times due to the fact they handle many immigration procedures (in fact, while Americans can stay for up to 90 days without a visa, foreign visitors are required to present their passports at the local police station within days of arrival). As a result that I could only do so between 10 and 2 on certain weekdays, and have joked that the police force here is a Republicans dream of downsized government. That's not to say you can commit a crime with impunity at 3PM (or 3AM), but the police presence is far less; the small TX town where my mom lives (3A school) probably has more cop cars than the third largest city in Norway (population slightly less than Tyler). That's likely to change now. Still and so, the fact remains that if someone successfully eludes capture after setting up a diversion to occupy the bulk of the local police department, then brings convincing police ID, automatic weapons and body armor to a secluded heavily wooded area accessible only by boat or air, he can do a lot of damage very quickly in any country. Again, Brieviks research, planning and implementation was one of the most chilling aspects of this atrocity: It would be very difficult to prevent anywhere except a police state.

Beyond that, if you want to know exactly how far Utøya is from Oslo, do what I did: Go to Googlemaps (or Map Quest, or wherever), type in the names of both locations and hit enter. It's just under 40km, or about 25 miles, and according to Googlemaps a 30-45 minute drive, though that assumes normal highway speeds the police surely exceeded. That takes you to the shore, 500m from which you'll find this. I can only see three BUILDINGS; how many cops do you think they normally need?