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“A gunman left 18 people dead and 13 wounded after opening fire at a bar and a bowling alley in the Maine town of Lewiston, authorities said on Thursday.” Reuters
“The [alleged shooter] was found dead of a likely self-inflicted gunshot wound on Friday.” Reuters
“Police across Maine were alerted just last month to ‘veiled threats’ by the U.S. Army reservist who would go on to carry out the worst mass shooting in the state’s history… Two local law enforcement chiefs told The Associated Press that a statewide awareness alert was sent in mid-September to be on the lookout for Robert Card after the firearms instructor made threats against his base and fellow soldiers. But after stepped-up patrols of the base and a visit to Card’s home – neither of which turned up any sign of him – they moved on…
“Another law enforcement agency that came in contact with Card was the New York State Police, which on July 16 was called in West Point by commanders of the Army Reserve’s 3rd Battalion, 304th Infantry Regiment with concerns about Card’s erratic behavior and ‘threats to other members of his military unit’ during a training exercise, according to a State Police document obtained by AP. State Police troopers took Card, a sergeant 1st class, to the Keller Army Community Hospital at West Point for what would be two weeks of mental health evaluation. What New York State Police did about Card’s threats is unclear.” AP News
The right calls for increased mental health treatment, including involuntary commitment.
“Card’s case, like those of so many other mass shooters, indicts national and state mental health authorities… The Army reservist recently reported hearing voices; he also threatened to shoot up a military training base in Saco, Maine. And he was reportedly sent to a mental hospital over the summer, presumably over the issues driving his delusions and threats. But he was let out after two weeks…
“Even to the most untrained eye, Card is the literal textbook example of a person who shouldn’t be allowed to have access to firearms. His case as reported is also proof positive that states need strong involuntary commitment laws uncluttered by red tape, and red flag laws around guns to boot…
“The state has let other accused mentally ill killers slip. Like Justin Butterfield, who was refused long-term involuntary commitment after multiple mental illness episodes, hospital visits and run-ins with the police in a single year, and went on to allegedly murder his brother late last year… The state must intervene by making sure the sick person’s getting the treatment they need and keeping them totally isolated from any and all guns.”
Editorial Board, New York Post
“Maine is in trouble when it comes to mental health services and it is not alone. Mental hospitals are being closed all across the country. As of the end of 2021, there were only 87 mental health crisis workers for the entire state, compared with more than 2,500 law enforcement officers. More than 2,000 patients were waiting for outpatient mental health treatment and 32 out of 45 emergency department beds were filled with individuals awaiting discharge for residential mental health care…
“Meanwhile, more than 20 mental health residential programs in Maine had closed that year due to a lack of staffing and inadequate financing… The Lewiston shootings are tragic but not isolated. This country needs more emphasis not just on the kind of weapon used but on the person using it and why.”
Marc Siegel, New York Post
“We’re seeing mentally ill people accost and attack residents in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago. When does the toll on victims become too high? How many more families must be torn apart by mentally ill people who didn’t take their meds, or who managed to convince doctors they weren’t a threat to anyone?…
“We’re not confronting the problem of the mentally ill murdering our loved ones because the solution is seen as cruel. Locking someone up against their will because they may become homicidal is seen by many as unnecessary. We’ve come a long way from incarcerating the mentally ill in Bedlam-like institutions. But if we’re going to get serious about addressing the mental health crisis in America, we’re going to have to think seriously about getting large numbers of people off the streets and into long-term mental health facilities.”
Rick Moran, PJ Media
The left calls for additional gun control measures, citing America’s high levels of gun violence.
The left calls for additional gun control measures, citing America’s high levels of gun violence.
“Every day, 120 Americans die at the end of a gun, including suicides and homicides, an average of 43,375 per year. According to the latest available analysis of data from 2015 to 2019, the US gun homicide rate was 26 times that of other high-income countries; its gun suicide rate was nearly 12 times higher. Mass shootings, defined as attacks in which at least four people are injured or killed excluding the shooter, have been on the rise since 2015…
“[One 2013 study] found that for each percentage point increase in gun ownership at the household level, the state firearm homicide rate increased by 0.9 percent. And states with weaker gun laws have higher rates of gun-related homicides and suicides, according to a study by the gun control advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety. The link between gun deaths and gun ownership is much stronger than the link that gun rights advocates often seek to draw between violence and mental health issues.”
Nicole Narea, Li Zhou, and Ian Millhiser, Vox
“If it were enough to simply have more good guys with guns, the fact that there are more guns than people in the U.S. should have reduced the number of mass shootings. Instead, we have more than ever…
“Common sense and widely supported reforms such as instituting background checks and red flag lists for people with histories of violence; eliminating loopholes that allow for unregulated firearms sales at gun shows; reducing magazine capacity; restricting ‘ghost guns’; and banning the general sale of military-style rifles, such as the AR-15, will make it harder for ‘bad guys’ to get guns and will prevent hundreds, if not thousands, of deaths every year.”
Peter Hanink, Los Angeles Times
“A majority of mass killers have never been diagnosed with any psychiatric disorders or undergone mental health treatment. And while the ranks of such killers clearly include racists and conspiracy theorists, they also include people with purely personal grievances, and plenty who had no discernible motive of any kind…
“There is no consistent profile. Perpetrators are Americans of all stripes, committing a peculiarly American crime. The one thing they have in common is guns, which are more plentiful than ever in the United States… At the same time, the U.S. Supreme Court has been rolling back weapons restrictions…
“Next month, the court will hear arguments in a case challenging a federal law barring a person under a domestic violence restraining order from possessing firearms… Domestic abusers are one of the few categories of people who experience tells us are more likely to commit gun violence. If we can no longer protect ourselves even from them, we will join the people of Lewiston, locked down in our homes, in fear of guns and the wide variety of our fellow Americans ready to use them against us.”
Editorial Board, Los Angeles Times
